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EARLY HISTORY 



f4%ratt €\mt\ m ^mmca, 



FROM THE 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SWEDES ON THE DELAWARE, TO 
THE MIDDLE OE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



C. W) SCHAEFFER, 

PASTOR OF ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH, GERMANTCWN, PA. 



NEW EDITION. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

THE LUTHEKAN BOOK STOKE, 

No. 807 VINE STREET. 
1868. 



,6 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 

0. W. BCUAEFFER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of L'eiinsylvania. 







CAXT0N PRESS OF 
SHEBUAN & CO., PHILADELPHIA 



%73 



PKEFACE. 



The preparation of this book was first suggested by 
the Board of Publication. According to the original 
plan, it should have furnished a hasty view of the 
whole history of the Church down to the present 
time, in the form of a tract. The importance of the 
subject, however, and the abundance of its materials, 
were such as to occasion an early departure from this 
original plan. The investigation has been confined 
to a limited period of our history, and we have sur- 
veyed that period with a considerable degree of 
deliberation. 

Thus we have succeeded, at least partly, in carry- 
ing out the intentions of the Board, by the prepara- 
tion of a small volume. We have also endeavored 
to present such a variety of facts, and to show their 
connection in such a manner, as might possibly make 

the volume somewhat instructive. 

3 



Our facilities for the collection of materials, in the 
several public libraries of Philadelphia and elsewhere, 
have been such, that a regard to brevity has often 
compelled us to restrain ourselves from the discussion 
of matters which would certainly be appropriate to a 
more extended and elaborate history. We have been 
the more willing to pursue this course, because we 
felt that what we did present had much of the 
charm of novelty, and that we were acting only 
as pioneers in an enterprise which will surely be 
undertaken yet, as it deserves to be, with a more 
comprehensive grasp, and achieved with greater 
thoroughness. 

The Hallische Nachrichten is invaluable as a trea- 
sury of historical information for the period over 
which it extends. Written by the fathers of the 
Church themselves, its exhibitions are fresh and 
authentic ; and it is to be hoped that the day is not 
far distant when at least the substance of it will be 
presented to the public in an English dress. In our 
references to this work, we have given what we sup- 
posed would be its English title, and called it 
Halle Reports. 

The remembrance of recent agitations in the 
Church that are now quieted, never again, we trust, 
to be aroused, suggests the propriety of our making 
some reference to the exhibition we have given of the 
doctrinal stand-point of the fathers. 



We have written not at all in the spirit of contro- 
versy, but with a sincere regard to historic truth. If 
any apprehensions ever arose that we might possibly 
be charged with partialities or prejudices upon the 
subject of Symbolism, or that our allusions to the 
matter might possibly prevent our securing the con- 
fidence of any, those apprehensions have been quieted 
by the consideration that we have attempted no argu- 
ment either on the one side or on the other. Wo 
have supposed that we could see in the fathers of the 
Church, with all their fidelity to our Confession, a 
fervor and liberality of spirit, an intelligent zeal, a 
depth of devotion, that was altogether commendable ; 
and we have simply endeavored to exhibit what we 
have seen. Indeed, we flatter ourselves that our ex- 
hibition will tend largely to allay all controversy 
upon the subject, and will help to establish and con- 
firm the peace of the Church • for it may be seen and 
felt to prove what, we are persuaded, men on both 
sides are willing to be convinced of: — that fidelity to 
the Lutheran Confession may harmonize with the 
highest and clearest tone of Christian devotion. We 
should therefore be sorry if either the author or tho 
Board should be held, by the statements of this 
volume, as being committed upon the subject of 
Symbolism. In good faith, and with the best of 
feelings towards the whole Church, we disclaim such 
committal. 



So this book, making no particular pretensions, 

is sent forth, with the prayer that, by the divine 

blessing, it may be the means of doing some 

good. 

C. W. 8. 

Germantown, February 23, 1857. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SWEDES. 

PAGE 

Early Settlements in the New World — Enterprise of Gustavus 
Adolphus — Swedes on the Delaware — Gov. John Printz — 
Rev. John Campanius — Luther's Small Catechism — John 
Thelin — Benevolent zeal of the King of Sweden — Rev. 
Messrs. Biork and Rudman — The City of Philadelphia — 
William Penn — Church Erection — Wicaco— Rev. Charles 
Magnus Wrangel — Unity of Swedes and Germans — Con- 
ferences — Bryzelius 9 

CHAPTER II. 

SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE SWEDES. 

The Enterprise in erecting Churches — Zeal of Campanius — 
Of Messrs. Biork and Rudman — Wrangel — Revivals among 
the Swedes — Separation of Swedes from the Fellowship of 
Lutherans — Increase of Demand for English Preaching 42 

CHAPTER III 

THE DUTCH. 

Commercial Objects — Lutherans worship in Private Dwellings 
— Persecution — Rev. John E. Goetwater — Rev. Justus Falk- 

Language 61 

7 



S CONTENTS. 

chapter iv. 

THE GERMANS 

PAGE 

Record of German Immigration — Benevolence of Queen Anne 
— New York — Schoharie — The Susquehanna — Arrival of 
Pastors — Lutherans in Philadelphia — Providence — New Ha- 
nover — Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg — Arrives in Charleston 
— Salzburgers — Arrives in Philadelphia 70 

CHAPTER V. 

CONGREGATIONS ORGANIZED. 

Churches in Philadelphia and its Vicinity — Muhlenberg's Ac- 
tivity — Increased Demand for Pastors — Handschuh — Kurtz 
— Schaum — Lancaster 95 

CHAPTER VI 

STATE OF GERMAN CHURCHES. 

German Reformed — Lutheran Population — Church Discipline 
— Purity of Doctrine — Youthful Piety — Catechetical Instruc- 
tion — Synod of Pennsylvania organized — Learning of the 
Clergy — Straitened Circumstances of many Germans — Re- 
demptioners — Neulaender — Impostors — Germans Reserved 
— Too tenacious of the Mother-Tongue — Consequent Losses 
of the Church, &c. &c 115 



EARLY HISTORY 



1 ut\txm €\mt\ m %mtxkh 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SWEDES. 



It is proposed to furnish a short history of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The 
field of observation thus opened is, in itself, so 
extensive and so full of materials, that the chief 
difficulty will be in making the history a short 
one. 

After the agitations of Europe consequent upon 
the Reformation had begun to subside, various 
causes combined to arrest and fix upon the newly- 
discovered Continent of the West the practical 
attention of the nations of the Old World. To 
some, it appeared as an admirable field for the 
exercise of a bold and adventurous spirit. Others 
appreciated it because it promised to reward the 
enterprise of commerce with the richest gains. 



10 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

And yet another class longed for it, and sought it 
under the noble conviction that it would be an 
asylum for the oppressed, a refuge from civil and 
religious persecution, affording to their devout 
and believing hearts what their native land had 
denied them, — "freedom to worship God." 

So a company of English adventurers effected 
the first permanent settlement upon this conti- 
nent, in Virginia, in the year 1607. The Dutch, 
impelled by the spirit of mercantile enterprise, 
established a second colony along the Hudson in 
1614; and the Puritans, supported through many 
trials by their faith in God, and enthusiastic for 
the advancement of his kingdom upon earth, 
planted the third in New England in 1620. 

Influenced by the progress of these events, 
many families from the several countries of Eu- 
rope which had adopted the Augsburg Confession, 
set out to seek a home and a place to worship 
God, in the attractive regions of the West. First, 
and, until the end of his days, most prominent in 
encouraging this movement, stood that illustrious 
hero of our faith, Gustavus Adolphus, King of 
Sweden. The statements of the climate and the 
soil and the population of America that had 
reached him were such, that, in his sagacity and 
the comprehensiveness of his spirit, he rapidly 
developed a plan for the establishment of colonies 
in foreign parts, to which emigrants from all Eu- 
rope were to be invited. The motives that mainly 
influenced him were these : — the planting of the 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 11 

Christian religion amongst the heathen, the honor 
of his own kingdom, and the commercial interests 
of his subjects. 

His own subjects were especially interested. 
Cheered by the encouraging accounts they had 
received from the New World, many of the inha- 
bitants of Sweden and Finland turned their long- 
ing eyes towards what seemed to them to be an 
earthly paradise. Their piety, their enterprise, 
were alike engaged and ready to forsake their kin- 
dred and their homes to brave the dangers of the 
deep, and so, with the Divine blessing, to carry 
the intelligent plans of their sovereign into suc- 
cessful operation. Startling events, however, soon 
attracted their attention to another quarter, and 
for a time their peaceful purposes were utterly con- 
fused by the stern and relentless demands of war. 
The Protestant princes of Germany, having been 
compelled to take up arms in defense of their reli- 
gious rights, placed Gustavus Adolphus at the 
he-ad of their allied forces. His attention was, of 
course, at once diverted from the immediate exe- 
cution of his plan for colonization. Yet he had 
not forgotten it. Only a few days before that glo- 
rious victory upon the field of Liitzen, in the blaze 
of which he lost his life, he recommended to the 
people of Germany the colonial project, which he 
still regarded as " the jewel of his kingdom." The 
enterprise thus so fondly contemplated by the 
king, was designed to open a safe retreat for the 
good and defenseless of every land, to be a bless- 



• 12 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

ing to the common man, and at the same time, 
without national distinction, to offer its advantages 
to the whole Protestant world. 

After the death of Gustavus, the chief control 
of the undertaking was assumed by Oxenstiern, 
Prime Minister of Sweden. This distinguished 
statesman, eminently fitted for the post by his 
qualities both of mind and heart, urged on the 
work at once with the intelligence of a patriot 
and the zeal of a Christian. 

Accordingly, in 1637, two ship-loads of emi- 
grants from Sweden sail up Delaware Bay. They 
are richly furnished with provisions for themselves, 
with merchandize for traffic with the Indians, and 
with the means of instruction and edification in 
the holy faith they professed. In all this we can 
readily discover the industry of their habits, the 
integrity of their purposes, and the purity of their 
character. 

The Dutch having already settled upon the east, 
the Swedes on their arrival purchased and occu- 
pied the lands on the west of the Delaware, 
from its mouth far up to the vicinity of Trenton. 
Tidings of their safety and their pleasant prospects 
reached their brethren at home. Bands of emi- 
grants from the Fatherland soon followed, and ere 
long "the eye of the stranger could begin to gaze 
with interest upon the signs of public improve- 
ment, ever regularly advancing from the region 
of Wilmington to that of Philadelphia." 

The power of Sweden over this territory ceased 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 13 

after the lapse of seventeen years. The Swedish 
colonists, whose numbers perhaps never far ex- 
ceeded one thousand, were forced to submit to 
their more powerful neighbors, the Dutch of the 
New Netherlands. So, the results which other- 
wise would naturally have followed from this early 
establishment of the Lutheran Church in America, 
were of course greatly interfered with by the civil 
and political disturbances that so soon effected the 
overthrow of Swedish power. 

These events, however, cannot be overlooked 
in any history of the Lutheran Church in America. 
The class of Lutherans of the present day that 
traces its descent from these ancient Swedes, 
though retaining the name of Lutheran, harmo- 
nizes in doctrine and in polity with a church that 
knows not the Augsburg Confession. Their rec- 
tors and teachers can make it plain enough that 
they inherit the names and the blood of the early 
colonists ; but their total separation from the fel- 
lowship of Lutherans, and the sportiveness with 
which they can regard some of the solemn usages 
of their fathers,* may indicate that, content with 



* The author of the "Annals of the Swedes," for example, in 
giving an account of an ordination of a pastor by three Swedish 
ministers, not one of whom was a bishop, sees how utterly at va- 
riance this was with all the views and usages of his own Episcopal 
Church. As the pastor ordained was to be sent to the Lutheran 
Church in New York, Mr. Clay gets over the difficulty by facetiously 
observing, that "perhaps they thought such orders would do for 
the Dutch." 

2 



14 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the name of the Swedish Church, they have en- 
tirely relinquished the inheritance of its Lutheran 
spirit. 

To the Lutheran Church in America that inhe- 
ritance belongs ; and she has never been backward 
in the assertion of her claim. Those Swedish co- 
lonists were Lutherans. They were of the same 
blood and faith as the noble heroes who a few 
years before had followed their great prince in the 
defense of Christian liberty through the battle- 
fields of Europe, and who, like him, at last lay 
down in victorious peace upon the plains of Liit- 
zen. They were Lutherans, bringing the Bible 
with its Sacraments, the Church with its- ministry, 
the Augsburg Confession and the Small Catechism, 
along with them. Not only was it intended by 
the originators of the colony that its religious 
element should be a prominent one; but, as we 
learn from its records for upwards of a whole cen- 
tury, a commendable zeal was displayed, both 
along the Delaware and in the fatherland, to keep 
that religious element true to its Lutheran type. 

To plant the Christian religion amongst the 
heathen, was the first object contemplated by the 
great Gustavus; and so the first establishment of 
Lutheranism in America deserves to be regarded 
as that of a missionary Church. The specific form 
of doctrine, however, to which the colonists were 
bound both by their own convictions and by the 
instructions of the government at home, was the 
form expressed in the familiar words, — "upon the 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 15 

foundation of the apostles and prophets, according 
to the unaltered Augsburg Confession." 

In the royal instructions sent from Sweden in 
1642, by John Printz, governor of the colony, 
whilst the relations he should maintain to all his 
neighbors, and the efforts he should make for the 
civil and economical improvement of the people, 
are minutely specified, the religious, the Lutheran 
element of the colony is commended to his atten- 
tion, by a prominence that he could scarcely -have 
overlooked. "Before all," says this letter of in- 
structions, "the governor must labor and watch 
that he renders in all things to Almighty God the 
true worship which is his due, the glory, the praise, 
and the homage that belongs to him, and take 
good measures that the Divine Service is performed 
according to the true Confession of Augsburg, 
the Council of Upsal, and the ceremonies of the 
Swedish Church, having care that all men, and 
especially the youth, be instructed in all the parts 
of Christianity, and that a good ecclesiastical dis- 
cipline be observed and maintained."* 

We have much reason to believe that these in- 
structions were faithfully executed In company 
with Governor Printz, upon his arrival in 1642, 
came also the Rev. John Campanius, as chaplain 
of the colony. We may readily infer, from his 
enlightened zeal on behalf of the Indians, that he 
was diligent and devoted as the spiritual guide of 

* Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania. 



16 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

■r 
his own countrymen. His intimacy with the 

neighboring tribes and their several chiefs was 
promoted by the successive governors of the co- 
lony; and with the simplicity and tenderrn 
one who is dealing with babes, he unfolded before 
them the great mystery of the gospel, God mani- 
fest in Christ, reconciling the world unto him- 
self.* 

Encouraged by the interest they manifested in 
his instructions, he addressed himself diligently 
to the study of their language, that he might the 
more readily proclaim to them in their own tongue 
the wonderful works of God. The early appear- 
ance of Luther's Small Catechism, which, like the 
Augsburg Confession, is one of the symbols of 
the Church, translated into the language of the 
Indians, afforded an evidence of his zeal and his 
success. It could hardly be supposed that we 
should be indifferent to the circumstances so 
plainly indicated by these facts, that "Lutherans 
were the first missionaries of the Cross, at least in 
Pennsylvania, and that perhaps the very first work 
ever translated into the language of the Indians 
in America was Luther's Small Catechism. "f 

It was not unusual for the Swedish pastors to 
oe recalled after a few years' residence in the 
colony, and to be appointed to some valuable 
and honorable post at home. The result of 
this was many changes in the pastoral relations, 



* Clay's Annals, p. 27. f lb. p. 28. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 17 

and the churches at times were wholly forsaken, 
like sheep without a shepherd. After the con- 
quest of the colony by the Dutch in 1655, many 
of the principal men and families were violently 
removed, intercourse with Sweden was almost 
entirely abandoned, and the congregations, unable 
to supply their pulpits as they became vacant, 
were compelled to rely for the conduct of public 
worship upon the zeal and devotion of laymen 
themselves. 

Under these circumstances, so unfavorable to 
the growth and even to the continuance of the 
Church, we might suppose that their religious zeal 
would have become deeply chilled, or at least that 
their affections would have been somewhat re- 
moved from the fair form of their Lutheran faith. 
But their Christian zeal and their Lutheran affec* 
tions nobly survived forty years of trial. After 
the lapse of that time subsequent to 1655, during 
which they sometimes had two pastors, sometimes 
but one, sometimes none at all, they express their 
hungerings for the word of the Lord, the preach- 
ing of the gospel, with a touching importunity ; 
and their declarations of attachment to the true 
Lutheran faith rise to the high level of Christian 
heroism. 

After a long and painful interruption of their 
intercourse with Sweden, a friend and an advocate 
was furnished for them in the person of John 
Thelin, a pious man of Gottenburg. Interested 
himself in their spiritual welfare by the inform a- 



18 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

tion he had providentially received, he was able 
to interest the court of Sweden also on their 
behalf. In 1692 he addressed them in a letter as- 
suring them of his Christian sympathy, of the 
willingness of the King of Sweden to befriend 
them, and asking to be more particularly informed 
of their spiritual necessities. Their answer was 
dated May 31, 1693. Among other things, they 
state in reply, "We heartily desire, since it hath 
pleased his majesty graciously to regard our wants, 
that there may be sent unto us two Swedish mi- 
nisters, who are well learned in the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and who may be able to defend them and 
us against all false opposers, so that we may pre- 
serve our true Lutheran faith, which, if called to 
suffer for our faith, we are ready to seal with our 
blood. We also request that those ministers may 
be men of good moral lives and character, so that 
they may instruct our youth b}' their example, and 
lead them into a pious and virtuous way of life." 
In the same letter they request that books of de- 
votion, Bibles, hymn-books, catechisms, might be 
purchased in Sweden and forwarded to them, pro- 
mising at the same a proper maintenance to the 
ministers after they should arrive. 

Of this letter many copies were taken : it was 
circulated from hand to hand in Sweden : it drew 
tears from many eyes.* The king himself took 
prompt and active measures to answer and even 

* Clay's Annals, pp. 46-47. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 19 

to exceed their prayer. The pious zeal of the 
Swedes on the Delaware to preserve among them- 
selves and their children the pure evangelical reli- 
gion was highly jpleasing to the monarch. Instead 
of two ministers, as they had modestly asked, he 
sent them three, — the Rev. Messrs. Rudnian, Biork, 
and Auren. Instead of the few books they had 
requested as a purchase, he sent them hundreds, as 
a gift. He provided a vessel for the passage of the 
ministers ; he furnished them with large funds to 
meet their expenses ; he dismissed them in the * 
name of the Lord ; he invoked the divine bless- 
ing upon them ; he promised never to forget 
them.* 

The final departure of these ministers from Swe- 
den was delayed, for a short time, by a circum- 
stance that recalls an interesting fact mentioned 
in the foregoing narrative. They had already 
taken leave of their friends. They were about to 
set sail ; but the failure of the printer to furnish 
them with the Indian catechisms forbade the 
movement, and they went not, until five hundred 
copies of Luther's Small Catechism were placed 
on board. f This book had been translated by 
Campanius, one of their first ministers, about 
fifty years before ; and the liberal supply granted 
to them on this occasion shows at once how anx- 
ious the Church in Sweden was, that they should 
be diligent as missionaries of the Cross amongst 

* Clay's Annals, p. 56. f lb. p. 54. 



20 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the heathen, and, in all their instructions, faithful 
to the Symbols of the Lutheran Church.* 

During all this time, and subsequently, the en- 
terprise and the benevolence of the Swedes was 
exercised, to a commendable degree", in the erection 
of churches at suitable points. Fort Christina, on 
Christina Creek, where their first settlement was 
made in 1638,f Tinicum,J selected as the residence 
of Governor Printz in 1646, and Philadelphia, 
which Mr. Biork considered, in 1697, as a " clever 
little town," were the chief places of their solemn 
assemblies. It will accord best with the brevity 
to which we are bound, and be quite sufficient for 
our purpose, if we confine ourselves more parti- 
cularly to a notice of the place last specified. 

The city of Philadelphia was founded by Wil- 
liam Penn in 1683. The movements of "William 
Penn in locating his city were opposed by the 
Swedes, who were the owners of the soil. But 



* A copy of this book is to be seen in the Philadelphia Library. 
It is in Indian and Swedish, — the languages alternating. It con- 
tains every thing usually found in the old German editions, — the five 
principal parts, the doctrine of confession, tables of duties, and the 
very prayers. Appended to it is a vocabulary of Indian words and 
phrases, which, with the catechism, makes a volume of one hundred 
and sixty pages, duodecimo. The Swedish portion is printed in 
German and the Indian in Roman characters. It is dated 1696, and 
both for paper and for type seems to have been put forth in liberal 
style. The pages of the Catechism itself number one hundred and 
thirty-five. 

•j- Now the city of Wilmington, Delaware. 

X Now the Lazaretto, twelve miles below Philadelphia. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 21 

his conciliatory manner, his kind promises, per- 
haps enforced by a reference to the weight of 
royal authority which he might call to his aid, 
and, above all, the liberal exchanges of land which 
he proposed, disarmed their opposition, and they 
acquiesced in the plans of the great founder of 
Philadelphia. 

The stream of intercourse between the Swedes 
and William Penn ran smoothly. If we refer to 
the fact that an occasional obstruction disturbed 
the peaceful current, it may serve to show more 
clearly what strong claims each party had to the 
respect and consideration of the other. Their 
character and bearing were such as to draw from 
him, on several occasions, a manly testimony in 
their favor. They received him kindly, as they 
always had, the few English who preceded him. 
Their respect to authority, and their kind behavior 
to his own countrymen, he had to commend. He 
had seen few young men more sober and indus- 
trious than they could show. He had met with 
few families more interesting than those of Swedish 
name. 

Perm's dealings with the Indians have obtained 
such a record in history as to command the praise 
of Christians in every land. Under the shade of 
the large elm-tree in Shakamaxon, the chiefs of 
the Algonquin race were captivated by the sim- 
plicity and sincerity of his manners, and by the 
language of pure affection in which he addressed 
them. "We will live," said they, "in love with 



22 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

William Perm and his children, and with his chil- 
dren's children, as long as the moon and sun en- 
dure."* It should be remembered, however, that 
Penn's intercourse with the Indians had been pre- 
ceded by the Christian labors of pious Lutherans, 
and that, for forty years, these sons of the forest 
had been accustomed to hear the truths and to dis- 
cern the principles of the gospel, proceeding from 
the lips and exemplified in the lives of Europeans. 
Along with all the civil intercourse between the 
Indians and the Swedes, there ran a line of spirit- 
ual sympathy, which, having begun in the time of 
Campanius, was afterwards greatly strengthened 
in the days of Biork and Euclman. It was by 
such- influences, long and steadily operating to 
subdue the passions and to conciliate the feelings 
of savage men, that the way was made straight for 
the successful application of the plans of the great 
philanthropist. 

Half a mile below the southern limits of the 
city of Penn, stood the Swedish Church of Wicaco. 
Having been built in 1669, it had been the scene 
of gospel ceremonies and of Christian devotion 
for several years before the arrival of the English 
colonists. It was, indeed, originally erected by the 
command of the Government, as a block-house, or 
place of defense against the Indians ; but the 
Lutherans, as though they relied more upon the 
weapons of a spiritual than upon those of a carnal 

* Baird's Religion in America, p. 70. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH .IN AMERICA. 23 

warfare, converted the fort into a church, and in 
1677 called the Kev. Jacob Fabritius as its pastor.* 

Thus, for five years before the arrival of William 
Penn, the gospel had been preached, its solemn 
ordinances had been administered, and the voice 
of rejoicing and salvation had been heard proceed- 
ing from the tabernacles of Zion, frequented by 
zealous Lutherans, in the immediate vicinity of 
what was afterwards the scene of his celebrated 
treaty. With the Indians, the Swedes were wont to 
live in much greater friendship than with the Eng- 
lish themselves. f There is every reason to believe, 
that they never forgot their obligations to endeavor 
to bring them into the marvellous light of the 
truth; and the effect of all these circumstances, 
in calming and controlling the feelings of the In- 
dians in their intercourse with white men, it were 
vain to question. Though we would not detract, 
in the least, from the merited praise of William 
Penn, yet we may honestly claim that to the 
Lutheran Church belonged the part of pioneer in 
the management of a treaty which, for its purity 
and integrity, has, above all others, a world-wide, 
an everlasting fame. 

It was at an early period of their ministry that 
Biork and Eudman began to agitate the subject 
of church-erection. With little money and with 
strong faith, a substantial building was commenced 

* Clay's Annals, p. 37. 

f Mr. Biork's Letter in 1697 ; Clay's Annals, p. 67. 



24 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

at Christina in 1698; and on Trinity Sunday, 1699, 
the church was consecrated to the service of Al- 
mighty God. "When the work began at Christina, 
there was a similar effort at Wicaco ; but, in con- 
sequence of a difference of sentiment as to the 
proper location of the church, no progress was 
made for upwards of a year. The difficulty, how- 
ever, having been removed, the erection of the 
new church was commenced, on the site of the 
old church or block-house of 1669. On the first 
Sunday after Trinity, in the year 1700, in the pre- 
sence of a large, promiscuous assembly, and by so- 
lemn acts of devotion, this church was consecrated 
to the service of God and the preaching of his 
word. By their zeal and enterprise, as displayed 
in the erection of these two churches, the Lu- 
therans had distinguished themselves and com- 
manded the admiration of their wealthier English 
neighbors. Their dimensions, the convenience of 
their internal arrangements, the tasteful simplicity 
of their adornments, elicited, in that early day, the 
meed of praise which is now lavished only upon the 
sacred temple where the costly perfections of art 
and skill combine to excite all the feelings of awe 
and veneration. The English inhabitants, having 
been interested in the progress of the churches at 
Wicaco and Christina, continued, long after their 
consecration, to gaze upon them with wonder. 
The fame of them was noised abroad to neighbor- 
ing provinces. Strangers, visiting the region of 
the Delaware, walked round about these walls of 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 25 

Ziou, and, with respectful mien, were pleased to 
enter her sacred courts. Even the Governors of 
Maryland and Virginia, — Nicholson and Black- 
stone, — attended by their respective suites, were 
gratified on the occasion of seeing with their own 
eyes these noble monuments of Christian zeal and 
of Lutheran enterprise.* 

It was through this church at Wicaco, that the 
principal stream of communication ran between 
the Swedes and the other adherents of the Lu- 
theran faith in America. 

The close of the seventeenth and the beginning 
of the eighteenth century brought large additions 
to the number of Lutherans. The emigration was 
especially strong between the years 1708 and 1720. 
Persecuted inhabitants of the Palatinate, rejoicing 
in the favor and sympathy of Queen Anne, flocked * 
together by thousands upon the shores of Eng- 
land. They were fed there and clothed by the 
royal bounty. They were edified by the spiritual 
attentions of preachers of the court; and when the 
day of their departure arrived, four thousand Ger- 
mans at once found accommodations upon ten 
ships prepared for a voyage to the Western World. f 
The immediate history of these emigrants, who 
landed in New York, June 13, 1710, belongs to 
another branch of our subject. Though the main 
body attempted to settle in the interior of New 
York, the proportion that came at once to the 



* Clay's Annals, p. 83. f Halle Reports, p. 473. 



26 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

province of Pennsylvania was not a small one. 
These emigrants, 'tis true, contributed nothing of 
any direct value in the establishment of the Church. 
Without religious teachers to instruct and build 
them up in the faith of the gospel, surrounded by 
sects which, though small, were contentious, and 
too much engrossed by the cares of this life, they 
served, at best, only as pioneers to prepare the 
way for their brethren who were soon to follow.* 

This service they effectually rendered. The 
Bible, the hymn-book, and Arndt's True Chris- 
tianity, with which they had been generously fur- 
nished by the munificence of friends in England, 
enlivening the hours of their rest and their devo- 
tion, still bound them to the faith of their fathers; 
and when the tide of emigration began again to 
flow, it was towards the province chosen by these 
earlier emigrants that its current was directed. 

The Lutheran families that arrived during this 
next period of emigration between 1720 and 1740 
were both numerous and hearty in their attach- 
ment to the Church. From the Palatinate, from 
Wurtemberg, from Darmstadt, from other portions 
of Germany, they came, having one Lord, one 
faith, one baptism. Many of them sought and 
found a home in Philadelphia and its vicinity, and, 
although unable in their poverty either to build 
church or school-house, or even to secure the 
ground for such an object, they nevertheless main- 

* Halle Reports, p. 666. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 27 

tained the unity of the faith, and hopefully awaited 
a more prosperous day. 

Upon the arrival of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg 
in 1742, he found the Lutheran Church of the 
Germans in Philadelphia in the habit of holding 
public worship in a small house that had been 
rented for the purpose. The interest awakened 
by his appearance amongst them was such, that in 
a short time this house was altogether too small 
to accommodate the growing crowds. The Lu- 
theran Church of the Swedes was generously of- 
fered for the use of the Germans ; and so it hap- 
pened, that the consecrated walls within which 
the father of the Lutheran Church in America 
first proclaimed the unsearchable riches of Christ 
were those of the Swedes at "Wicaco.* Upon a 
set day in this church there was a novel and at- 
tractive ceremony, refreshing doubtless to many a 
weary heart, and sanctioned by the holy offices of 
religion. The Swedes and the Germans were ga- 
thered together. Muhlenberg presented his testi- 
monials and letters of recommendation. The 
senior pastor of the Swedes opened and read them in 
the hearing of all the people ; and there, in the midst 
of songs of praise and fervent prayer, Muhlenberg 
was solemnly installed as regular pastor of the 
German Lutherans in and around Philadelphia, f 

A union of hands between the poorer Germans 
and the more prosperous Swedes, apparently so 

* Halle Reports, p. 717. f lb. p. 671. 



28 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

earnest and sincere lis this, might well suggest the 
thought that there i > have been a unity 

of heart, all the goodly, pleasant fellowship of 
brethren. Such in truth there was; and it is this 
and the long continuance of it that justifies us :n 
the belief, that the early progress of the Swedish, con- 
gregations, now separated though they be, belongs 
to the history of the Lutheran Church in America. 

With such a beginning, we might expect to find 
Muhlenberg, though the pastor of the Germans, 
moving freely and figuring largely among the 
Swedes. And when we find them, in their pros- 
perous settlements along the Schuylkill, clustering 
around him and begging him, with tears in their 
eyes, to visit them and preach to them upon the 
Lord's day, — when we see him administer the holy 
Sacraments in their devout assemblies, — when we 
hear them testify, with joyful hearts, that these im- 
pressive scenes reminded them of apostolic times,* 
— we have' no difficulty in concluding, that the 
Swedes and the Germans of this earlier period 
were one united family in all the completeness of 
Christian fellowship. 

The fruits of Muhlenberg's pastoral fidelity, and 
of the adherence of the Swedes to the doctrine 
and order of the Lutheran Church, began in due 
time to ripen. In the year 1759, there arrived 
from Sweden a young man duly accredited as 
provost or chief pastor of the Swedish churches. 

* Halle Reports, pp. 267-278. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 29 

This was Charles Magnus Wrangel, of whom we 
may say, in relation to the other Swedish pastors, 
that in gifts, in labors, and in success, he was not 
a whit behind them. He preached the Avord of 
the Lord, and the dry bones lived. He attracted 
the young; he aroused and quickened the old. 
Crowds, drawn by his captivating eloquence, 
thronged around him in the open air. He was 
wholly given to the work. He seemed as one re- 
solved to make full proof of his ministry ; and his 
brethren, for whom Muhlenberg himself testifies, 
thought that a special blessing rested upon his 
labors and a special providence protected his life.* 
They persuaded themselves, indeed, that they 
could trace in him certain features of resemblance 
to the Great Apostle ; for at times he also had a 
thorn in the flesh, lest he might be exalted above 
measure ; and again, when persecutions abounded 
and the cross bad grown heavy, some new triumph 
was granted to him, lest he might be swallowed 
up witli sorrow.* His personal demeanor was 
marked by the graces of simplicity and gentleness, 
and his conversation was richly instructive to all 
who might be interested in the things of the king- 
dom of G-od.f 

The intercourse between Muhlenberg and 
Wrangel, frequent and cordial as it was, was at 
the same time both the cause and the effect of a 
corresponding fellowship between the German and 



* Halle Reports, p. 852. f lb. p. 851. 

3* 



30 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the Swedish Churches. As being parts of one 
and the same Evangelical Lutheran Church, what 
could have separated them ? The difference of 
their languages was no stronger element of dis- 
union then, than has been the difference between 
the German and the English of later generations; 
and, with these two languages prevailing in her 
borders until the present day, no sound head has 
ever contemplated the project of a division of the 
Lutheran Church upon the principle of speech. 
Her glory might be, that even unto this day she 
possesses and exercises the gift of tongues, through- 
out the Union and the adjacent colonies. She holds 
on to the stirring Saxon of the great Reformer: 
when occasion requires, she preaches the gospel 
and administers its sacraments in the languages of 
Holland and of France ; whilst the English, the 
Swedish, and the Norwegian are the ordinary forms 
in which she declares the whole counsel of God. 
Thus diverse in her gifts, she yet continues one in 
the integrity of her faith and the activity of her 
benevolence On the ground of language, then, 
there couK have been no separation between the 
Germans and the Sw T edes in the days of Wrangel 
and of Muhlenberg. 

Nor could, they have been separated upon the 
principle of any fundamental distinction in eccle- 
siastical polity. The Church in Sweden, 'tis true, 
has somewhat of an Episcopal Constitution; but 
this episcopacy is maintained upon the ground of 
convenience, of political expediency, and not, as is 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 31 

the Episcopacy of England, upon the assumed 
principle of apostolic succession. 

As though they regarded episcopacy as a mere 
matter of expediency, belonging only to an esta- 
blished Church and to a monarchical government, 
the Swedish pastors and churches in America seem 
to have been ready, to ignore it from the beginning. 
In the year 1691, apprehending, from the infirmi- 
ties of his old age, that their venerable pastor Fa- 
britius might soon be removed from his labors, 
they addressed an earnest appeal to the Lutheran 
Consistory in Amsterdam, supplicating them, in 
consideration of their "happy fellowship in the 
Lutheran communion," to ordain and send to them 
some faithful Swedish student, qualified to minis- 
ter in holy things. The ordination thus solicited 
was that of the Lutheran Church, disclaiming the 
lofty pretensions of apostolic succession, concern- 
ing which they do not seem to have entertained a 
thought* 

Shortly after the beginning of the last century, 
three of their most eminent pastors — Rev. Messrs. 
Rudman, Biork, and Sandel — or dained Justus Falk- 
ner, in the church at Wicaco ;f and in the month 
of August, 1748, the Swedish pastors Sandin and 
ISTesman united with the Germails, Muhlenberg, 
Hartwich, Brunnholtz, and Handschuh, at a meet 
ing of synod in St. Michael's Church, Philadelphia, 
in the ordination of Kurtz to the gospel ministry, 

* Clay's Annals, pp. 38, 137 f lb. p. 86. 



32 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

by the laying on of hands.* In a word, their 
uniform doctrine upon this subject seems to have 
harmonized fully with the representations which 
Dr. Collin was wont to give to the Lutherans of 
Philadelphia, in his day. The amount of his tes- 
timony was, that whilst the people of Sweden 
would no doubt prefer to have bishops placed over 
the Church as a matter of convenience or expe- 
diency, yet no one would ever think of putting 
forth in their behalf the claim of divine right or 
apostolic succession. f 

The Swedes and the Germans, then, were truly 
one Lutheran Church, — holding the unity of the 
Spirit in the bonds of peace. When we study the 
Christian fellowship that subsisted between Muh- 
lenberg and Wrangel, we discover that, though 
somewhat more intense, it was nevertheless only 
upon a smaller scale than the fellowship between 
the churches themselves. These men were both 
learned, laborious, and devout. Their zeal was 
intelligent and aggressive; and the effect of then- 
intimate association was to encourage themselves 
and their people to faith and good works. 

The history of a few r days will answer as a sketch 
of their intercourse for years. On the Lord's 
day, July 26, 1761, in the afternoon, Muhlenberg 



* Halle Reports, p. 111. 

j- My authority for this is a venerable pastor of the Lutheran 
Church in Philadelphia, who, after a ministry in that city of fifty 
years, still retains in a remarkable -way the laborious zeal and the 
intellectual vigor of his early dnys. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 33 

preaches English in one of the Swedish congrega- 
tions, and returns through a heavy rain to Wicaco. 
Late at night Wrangel comes back to Wicaco, wet 
and sick, from Jersey. The next day they ride to 
the residence of Pastor Handschuh, and, accom- 
panied by elders and members of the church, and 
the children and teachers of the congregational 
school, they walk in procession to the new school- 
house of the Germans, and solemnly consecrate 
it. In the afternoon, Muhlenberg, Wrangel, and 
Handschuh, edify themselves in the residence of 
the latter with the word of God and with prayer. 
On Tuesday, Muhlenberg and Wrangel visit some 
Christian friends together, and are much refreshed 
in spirit by their godly conversation. At night 
they arrive at Wicaco, and there remain. The 
next day they set out to pay pastoral visits in the 
Swedish congregations, and, after a day of physical 
toil but of spiritual joy, they arrive at the resi- 
dence of Mr. John Tailor, one of the proprietors 
of Tinicum. This man had been a Quaker or 
Friend; but, having been instructed by Wrangel 
in the doctrines and sacraments of the gospel, he 
had been baptized. The Lord had opened his 
heart, and, in the spirit of Lydia, he opened his 
house to the man of God who had shown him 
the way of salvation. With Tailor and his believ- 
ing wife they remain ; and they edify themselves 
with Christian converse and with prayer until the 
hour of retiring. On Thursday they visit the old 
graveyard at Tinicum, and gaze thoughtfully upon 



34 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the memorials of the ancient Swedes, and upon the 
ruins of the first Christian church erected in these 
Western wilds. At noon Muhlenberg preaches to 
an attentive congregation ; and in the afternoon 
they take part in a meeting called for the purpose 
of devising measures to erect a new church. At 
this meeting Muhlenberg and Wrangel are chosen 
as trustees. In the evening they return to Wran- 
gel's residence at Wicaco.* We can scarcely re- 
frain from continuing this interesting record, 
revealing as it does the pastoral fidelity, the per- 
sonal piety, the fraternal harmony of these noble 
men. We follow it up a little further, and we find 
them meeting on the next Sunday evening again 
at Wicaco, both exhausted by the labors of the 
day, and both seeking to refresh their spirits at the 
fountain of mercy. We look again, and we see 
how, after the arduous duties of the following 
Tuesday morning, Wrangel is pleased to accom- 
pany Muhlenberg from house to house in the after- 
noon, for the purpose of conversing and praying 
with awakened and inquiring souls. f 

In this fraternal union the other pastors and the 
congregations of the Swedes and Germans largely 
shared. Being of one mind in regard to the 
Symbols of the Lutheran faith, and bound by those 
symbols only to the doctrines of the word of God, 
they required no foreign influences to unite and 
cement them together. But the authorities of the 

* Halle Reports, p. 867. f lb. p. 869. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 35 

Church in Sweden, hearing of this fellowship, felt 
themselves called upon to applaud and encourage 
it. On Monday, September 15, 1760, the Provost 
Wrangel opened a regular Conference of Swedish 
pastors in the church at Wicaco. Muhlenberg, 
having been personally invited by Dr. Wrangel, 
was also present. The first matter laid before the 
Conference was the letter of instructions from the 
Archbishop of Upsal, the highest dignitary of the 
Church in Sweden. In this letter, among other 
things, it was ordained that the Swedish pastors 
should to the fullest extent co-operate with the 
German Lutheran Ministerium in brotherly love 
and Christian harmony ; that the Swedes should 
attend the synodical meetings of the Germans, and 
invite the Germans to participate in their solemn 
conventions, in order that the welfare of the whole 
Church might be thus promoted. Observing the 
hearty acquiescence of the Swedes in this arrange- 
ment, Muhlenberg arose, and on behalf of the 
German Ministerium returned thanks for the inte- 
rest that the archbishop had been pleased to ex- 
press in the welfare of the Church in America; 
announcing at the same time his joyful hope that 
by such a union its prosperity, under the divine 
blessing, might be secured.* 

Among the transactions of the same Conference, 
great prominence was given, and as a matter of 
history is still due, to another measure, that was 

* Halle Reports, p. 852. 



36 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

intended to protect the Swedish pastors and their 
congregations against a certain catastrophe, in 
which by the force of circumstances they became 
after a few years involved. 

Here and there, in the vicinity of the Swedes, 
might be found some congregations, larger or 
smaller, composed of members of the Episcopal 
Church of England, more or less organized. The 
nominal Episcopacy of the Lutheran Church in 
Sweden appeared to these High-Church Episco- 
palians a sufficient reason for acknowledging the 
validity of the acts of the Swedish pastors, in the 
absence of rectors of their own order. ' In their 
desire for the ministry of the word, they held out 
honorable inducements to the Swedish pastors to 
minister at their altars ; and the willingness of the 
Swedes to preach the gospel to every creature in- 
clined them, at times, to give ear to these solicita- 
tions. The whole subject was brought to the 
attention of the Conference, and a rule was esta- 
blished that the Swedish pastors should not be 
moved by pecuniary considerations to take charge 
of any Episcopal church, since a faithful ministry 
amongst their own people would occupy all their 
time. Could they, however, by a diligent use 
of their time, occasionally visit these English 
churches and serve them with the means of 
grace, according to the doctrine and order of the 
Lutheran Church, it would then be proper, upon 
the principle of Christian love, that they should 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 37 

pay some attention to certain specified Episcopal 
parishes.* 

Strangely enough, history has to record the sub- 
sequent marshalling of all these Swedish churches 
under the banner of English Episcopacy ; but it 
is due to them to observe, that this swerving from 
the faith and order of the Lutheran Church w r as a 
movement against which they seem to have been 
anxious to protect themselves, by deliberate and 
solemn enactments. They were bound only to 
the Brethren of the Augsburg Confession ; and 
when occasionally ministering amongst their Epis- 
copal neighbors, they acknowledged their obli- 
gations to contend for the faith only under the 
Symbols of Lutheranism. 

At the conclusion of this Conference, it was 
advised that a meeting of the German pastors 
should be convened at an early day, in order that 
the existing condition of the w T hole Church might 
be ascertained. As to the time, the month of 
October was agreed upon ; and Providence, now 
called "The Trappe," in Montgomery county, the 
residence of Muhlenberg, was fixed as the place. f 

Accordingly, on the 18th of October, 1760, the 
Conference met. There were, amongst others, 
Muhlenberg and Wrangel, Gerock, of Lancaster, 
and Hausile, of Reading, the two Kurtzes, Schaum, 
and Handschuh. The next day was the Lord's 

* Halle Reports, p. 853. f Ibid. 

4 



6b EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

day. Germans and Swedes alike thronged to- 
gether from a region many miles around, to par- 
take in the rare privileges of the occasion. The 
Lord blessed the provision of his house, and tilled 
his poor with bread. 

Upon the conclusion of the morning and after- 
noon services, the assembled pastors retired to the 
parsonage, and united in converse touching holy 
things. They discussed the elements of a broken 
and truly contrite heart, of faith, and of righteous- 
ness. They drew near to each other, interchanging 
the results of self-examination and personal expe- 
rience of the grace of God, until their very hearts 
throbbed with holy joy. In the evening, and in 
the same place, they lifted up the voice of praise, 
they sang their favorite hymns, they accompanied 
themselves with an instrument of music, they con- 
versed about the internal affairs of their congrega- 
tions, they prolonged and varied the soul-stirring 
melodies, they noticed not the passage of the swift- 
winged hours, and the clock struck three at night 
before they thought of resigning nature to its 
repose.* 

One of the most active members of this Con- 
ference w T as the Swedish provost, Wrangel ; and 
the first business brought before it was a matter 
in which Wrangel had taken a very prominent 
part. A certain Paul Bryzelius, a young man, a 
native of Sweden, well educated, of good parts, 

* Halle Reports, p. 855. 






LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 39 

and of upright character, having been brought 
under the influence of some who were not friendly 
to the Lutheran Church, appeared to be acting as 
their instrument in an attempt to draw off the 
Swedish church at Racoon, in New Jersey, from 
the Lutheran communion to that of his patrons. 
Wrangel had approached him in the name and 
with the word of the Lord. Bryzelius saw his 
error, was convinced, repented of it, and, under the 
advice of Wrangel, appeared before the Conference 
with a prayer for admission into the fellowship of 
the Lutheran Church. After a thorough examina- 
tion of the case before the Ministerium, Bryzelius 
declared, in writing, that, having been thoroughly 
convinced of his error and having heartily aban- 
doned it, he solemnly bound bimself, upon his 
admission into the Ministerium of the Swedes 
and German Luthei-ans of Pennsylvania, to teach 
nothing but what is based upon the word of God, 
to conform, in all his ministrations, to our Sym- 
bolical Books, and to comply with the order of 
the said Ministerium. This document was signed, 
in the presence of the Ministerium, by Bryzelius 
himself, and by Muhlenberg, Wrangel, and Ge- 
rock, as witnesses. The whole ceremony was 
appropriately terminated with prayer that the 
brother thus restored to the Church might, by the 
grace of God, be an instrument for bringing many 
souls to the Saviour of the Avorld.* 

* Halle Reports, p. 856. 



40 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

From the result, it might be argued that the 
divine blessing rested upon these measures. Bry- 
zelius went to the church in New Germantown, 
New Jersey, labored with much acceptance ana 
his people, and was held in honor, both by his 
Swedish and German brethren, for his faithfulness. 

This case, though it is the personal history of an 
individual, shows conclusively what was the spirit 
of the Lutherans in 1760. A Swedish minister 
reclaimed by the prayerful efforts of the Swedish 
provost is brought to the Synod of the Swedes 
and Germans, and, being pledged to preach the 
word of God according to the doctrine and order 
of the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church, 
is sent to take charge of a German Lutheran con- 
gregation. The union, the harmony of spirit, 
between the Swedes and Germans was most com- 
plete. There was but one Lutheran Church, to 
which they all belonged ; and, whatever courtesy 
they were wont to display towards other Churches, 
among themselves they cultivated, in a peculiar 
degree, the sentiments of brethren. 

It is of considerable importance to observe, that 
the course thus adopted and pursued by Wrangel 
and his Swedish brethren met with the approba- 
tion of the Church and Government that had sent 
them hither. After the labors of about nine years 
in preaching the gospel of Christ and promoting 
unity of spirit and action amongst all the adhe- 
rents of the Lutheran faith in America, he was 
recalled to his native land, and rewarded with one 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 41 

of the most prominent appointments that the Go- 
vernment of Sweden had to bestow. The departure 
of the distinguished provost called forth many ex- 
pressions of regret from the whole Church. Muh- 
lenberg especially has recorded the sorrow with 
which he received the intelligence of Wrangel's 
removal. Yet time and space could not destroy 
the. fellowship of those congenial spirits. They had 
long labored together in joy and in sorrow. They 
had stood side by side at the altar in "Wicaco and in 
Providence. In journeyings oft, they had nobly 
shared in the burden that came upon them both, — 
the care of all the churches. With their large 
experience, they had legislated together in synodi- 
cal session ; with childlike simplicity, they had read 
the word of God and bowed before the throne of 
grace in company; and they still continued to 
take sweet counsel together, and to co-operate for 
the advancement of the Lutheran Church in 
America, though an ocean rolled between them. 



42 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER II. 

SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE SWEDES. 

In pursuing the history of the Church, the heart 
of the Christian is ever on the alert to discover in 
each particular period the condition of that divine 
kingdom which is righteousness, peace, and joy 
in the Holy Ghost. It is indeed a matter of in- 
terest to know where congregations were organ- 
ized, where churches were built, what doctrines 
were professed, what efforts were made for the dif- 
fusion of gospel light upon the earth, and what 
were their general results. The external history 
of the Church, affording, as it does, most attractive 
instances of the plans of genius, the fearlessness 
of heroism, the sacrifices and conflicts of benevo- 
lence, with its subsequent triumphs, might well 
engage and absorb the attention of minds that 
are prone to seek excitement amid the agitated 
scenes of human passions, or addicted to indulge 
even in the intoxications of romance. 

But, in the estimation of the Christian, the 
King's daughter is all glorious within. He enters 
the sanctuary of Zion, that he may see the goings 
of the Lord, the Holy One, and he feels lonely and 
comfortless, amid all the splendor of her courts, 
unless he realizes the divine presence there. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 43 

What was the spirit of the Swedish churches ? 
Were they bound up in cold formalism and in 
rigid orthodoxy ? Were they animated by a fer- 
vent and intelligent zeal for the gospel of Christ 
and the conversion of souls ? Did they labor, with 
faithfulness and success, to bring men from the 
power of Satan to God? Did they insist with 
becoming earnestness upon the renewing of the 
Holy Ghost, and train their people to the exercise 
of that faith that worketh by love ? These are 
questions of importance ; and it is with no small 
degree of interest that we advance to consider 
them. 

Their enterprise in the erection of churches, 
their anxious care to have them supplied with an 
able and faithful ministry, that might defend the 
truth against all opposers and train their children 
in the way of life, afford strong presumptive evi- 
dence that their piety was active, experimental, 
and sincere. With no further indications of their 
Christian character than these circumstances afford, 
we might dispose of them under the conviction 
that eveiwwhere their memory would be held in 
honor, even by those who are accustomed to the 
special and active measures of the present day. 
But we are able to look more deeply into the rela- 
tions of their inner life. Their historians and an- 
nalists, 'tis true, have not in general appeared much 
inclined to turn their investigations into this chan- 
nel. Their attention was mainly occupied with 
the civil polity of the Swedes, and the external 



44 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

history of their churches; but in the midst of all 
this they furnish us with occasional facts of 
value in their spiritual bearing, — occasional, yet fre- 
quent enough to convince; us that it is the fault of 
the annalists themselves that such statements are 
so rare. After the German churches under Muh- 
lenberg and his brethren had been well established, 
and Swedes and Germans had been confirmed in 
the unity of the faith, it was natural that the cir- 
cumstantial reports of the German congregations 
should at the same time present the spiritual con- 
dition of their Swedish brethren. So, when we 
attempt to describe the religious standing of the 
latter, our principal source of information will be 
found in the Halle Reports, devoted though they 
are to the cause and interests of the former. If 
any portions of the History of New Sweden, by 
Acrelius, have a bearing upon this subject, they 
are still locked up in the original Swedish tongue, 
and will probably remain so until some zealous 
inheritor of the blood of the early Swedes shall 
bring forth the record in some other speech more 
prevalent in our land.* 

The efforts of Campanius, forty years before the 
arrival of William Penn, to convert the Indians to 
the faith of the gospel, have not only the appear- 
ance of zeal; they have also the indisputable merit 
of intelligent Christian perseverance. By his pa- 
tient teaching he succeeded in making them under- 



* Yet a translation of this work is reported. 






LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 45 

stand many of the cardinal truths of the gospel. 
They took so much interest in his instructions, and 
seemed so well prepared for further advancement 
in the knowledge of Christ, that he studied their 
language in order that he might make full proof 
of his ministry amongst them.* As he did not 
faint, we have the assurance of the divine word 
that in due season he was able to reap. So it is 
no slight commendation of the character of the 
Swedish Churches that impresses us, when, as we 
discover in the early times the distinguished Puri- 
tan, Eliot, toiling for the edifying of Christians and 
the conversion of Indians in Massachusetts, we can 
turn straightway towards the South and find the 
equally-faithful Lutheran, Campanius, accomplish- 
ing the same thing along the Delaware. 

About the close of the seventeenth century, the 
Rev, Messrs. Biork and Rudman, upon their ar- 
rival from Sweden, were sadly grieved at the dis- 
covery of the state of the Church, the irregularity 
of the congregations, their neglect of the ordi- 
nances of the gospel, and especially their forget- 
falness of the proper training of the youth. Like 
reasonable men, however, they accounted for it by 
the fact, that the churches had long suffered for 
the want of the requisite pastoral attention. Like 
hopeful Christians, too, they promised themselves 
and their congregations that these things should 
be mended, if God would grant them life.f The 



* Clay's Annals, p. 27. f lb. p. 6G. 



46 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

road before them was rough, but they would not 
spare themselves. The}' would labor diligently in 
word and doctrine, so that with God's blessing the 
crooked might become straight and the rough 
places smooth. 

Trained in the same school as Campanius had 
been fifty years before, they trod faithfully in his 
footsteps, and were worthy to be the successors of 
this co-laborer of Eliot among the Indians. They 
had been largely supplied with Luther's Cate- 
chism, in the Indian tongue. They found ready 
access to the neighboring tribes. They were 
surprised and encouraged by the aptness of the 
Indians to learn from the lay teacher, Charles 
Springer, to whom they had intrusted this minis- 
try. They hoped for great results. They said, 
""Who knows what God has yet in store for these 
Indians,, if our lives should be spared, when we 
shall have acquired their language? We shall 
spare no labor to attain that object."* 

The labors of these two pastors seem to have 
resulted in a genuine revival of religion through- 
out the whole Lutheran community. It was not, 
indeed, attended by those forms of excitement — 
those public indications of religious awakening — 
that have marked the extensive revivals of later 
years ; but it had in it all the elements that could 
be expected from a genuine work of grace amongst 
a people of mild and amiable character, of gentle 

* Clay's Annals, p. 68. 



i 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 47 

and retiring liabits. Of the large number of 
Bibles, hymn-books, prayer-books, and other 
books of devotion sent from Sweden, not one was 
unemployed.* They were read. They were car- 
ried from house to house. They were passed from 
hand to hand. They were devoured. They en- 
countered the treatment, and they produced the 
results, which, colporteurs tell us, belong to the 
history of some stray copies of Baxter's Saints' 
Rest, or of Doddridge's Rise and Progress, which, 
working their lonely way through the few house- 
holds of some dreary regions, are silent, though 
mighty, in opening the eyes of the blind and 
bringing mourning sinners to the Saviour. The 
Swedish churches arose at once, and shook them- 
selves from the dust: they put on garments of 
beauty. Religion nourished in the household, the 
children were carefully instructed in the doctrines 
of the gospel, and parents and children, walking 
in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the 
Holy Ghost, were edified, f 

The period of Wran gel's labors among the 
Swedes began in 1759 and ended in 1768. During 
all this time the intimacy between the Swedish 
and German churches was particularly cordial ; 
and it is mainly in consequence of this intimacy 
that we are furnished with the information that 
will enable us to form a correct estimate of the 
character and spirit of the Swedish congregations. 

* Clay's Annals, p. 68. % lb. pp. 71, 85. 



48 EARLY HISTOBY OF THE 

In those days a religious party of the English, 
and several Beets of the Germans, were loud, if 
not eloquent, in the maintenance of a certain 
negative position, against which it has always 
been the glory of the Lutheran Church to present 
a positive principle. These parties derided Lu- 
ther's Catechism. They opposed the use of what 
they called the letter of the divine word in the 
instruction of the young. In their social inter- 
course, and when the Spirit was thought to move 
tin m in their meetings, they testified that it was 
wrong, it was sinful, to attempt to influence the 
minds of children by the use either of the one or 
of the other. "Let the youth," said they, " be 
unprejudiced, uncommitted, until they shall re- 
ceive the baptism by fire and the inspiration of 
the Holy Ghost, which shall all be given in his 
own good place and time."* But the Lutherans, 
always apprehensive that tares were sure to grow 
where no good seed was sown, — that where the 
light was not made to shine there gross darkness 
must prevail, — steadily persisted in their efforts to 
train their children under the influence of the 
Bible and the catechism. The cultivation of re- 
ligion in the household, the treatment of the chil- 
dren, both by parents and pastors, as though they 
already stood in covenant-relations with God by 
virtue of their baptism, and required the most 
prayerful attention that they might be rendered 

* Halle Reports, p. 1199. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 49 

steadfast and adorn their profession, — these are 
principles in the illustration of which the Lu- 
theran Church, during all the periods of its pros- 
perity, must be acknowledged to abound. 

It was so among the Swedes in the days of 
Wrangel. In the Conference of Lutheran minis- 
ters at Wicaco, and afterwards at the Trappe, his 
high character and the weighty influeuce he was 
exerting amongst his people are indicated by his 
tender regard for the divine command, "Feed my 
sheep; feed my lambs." The care and labor he 
devoted to his congregations, that they might live 
and nourish in the spirit of the gospel, seemed to 
his brethren to be truly astonishing. When they 
speak of his preaching, our impression is that his 
strength belonged to the pulpit, so lucid were his 
exhibitions of gospel truth, so effective his instruc- 
tions, so close his applications, so stirring his ap- 
peals in the sacred desk. When we follow him 
in his pastoral walks, our impression may be quite 
as positive, that his strength lay in the fidelity 
with which he preached the gospel from house to 
house, and the interest with which he invested 
the catechetical instruction of the young. 

The recommendations which he eloquently 
urged upon the attention of his Lutheran brethren 
in the Conference at the Trappe, in 1760, may be 
regarded as descriptive of the usages of the Swedish 
churches; they certainly were of those of the 
Germans in the times of Muhlenberg. The same 
catechism (Luther's Small Catechism) was studied 
5 



50 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

in all the churches. The pastor visited the con- 
gregational schools and the families of his people, 
and sought, by the use of the catechism, to pre- 
sent the doctrines of the gospel in a plain, simple, 
attractive form, so that the children themselves 
would desire it as the sincere milk of the word. 
Care was taken that the memory should not be 
burdened with oppressive tasks; yet every doc- 
trine was to be proven and established by some 
apt passage of the Scripture. It was the duty of 
the parents and the pastor to see that whatever 
was committed to memory was thoroughly under- 
stood, so that not only the memory, but also all 
the affections of the soul, might be occupied with 
the good word of God.* 

There had been times in which the Swedes 
were remiss in that devout observance of the 
sacraments of the gospel that is characteristic of a 
faith that worketh by love. They neglected espe- 
cially the table of the Lord. Guilty fears and a 
legal spirit drove them from it, until old age had 
settled upon them, or until Providence had laid 
them upon the bed of death. But the tears and 
eloquent appeals of Wrangel, the devout spirit, 
the steady perseverance of Borrel, the hearty co- 
operation of Bryzelius and Wicksel, through the 
blessing of God, effected a thorough, a happy 
change ; and, from the weeping and the praying with 
which both old and young surrounded the table 

* Halle Reports, p. 858. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 51 

of the Lord upon their solemn festivals, it might be 
argued that a blessing had indeed been bestowed 
upon them, and that God had visited his people.* 

By their varied and untiring efforts, the Church 
prospered; Zion seemed to break forth on the 
right hand and on the left. From time to time 
there were souls added to the number of the faith- 
ful, with whom the Swedes had had no nearer 
connection than the common ties of humanity. 
At one time Roman Catholics were brought to 
the knowledge of the truth of the gospel ; at 
another, Quakers were baptized in the name of 
the Holy Trinity ; and again, negroes, the chil- 
dren of Ethiopia, were admitted to the household 
of faith and the table of the Lord.f Their pastors, 
with "Wrangel at their head, " worked themselves 
almost to death" in building up the kingdom of 
Christ; and in their seasons of retirement they 
could but weep over the desolations they saw 
around them. In this laboring in public and 
weeping in private, this ceaseless remembrance 
of Zion, we discover the solution of Muhlenberg's 
testimony in 1761 : — " There seems to be a special 
revival and a peculiar blessing abiding upon the 
Swedish churches. "J 

A revival in the sense of Muhlenberg was un- 
questionably a work of the Holy Spirit. Such 
works it was his privilege often to behold ; and 



* Halle Reports, p. 860. f Ibid. pp. 957, 958. 

% Ibid. p. 948. 



52 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

he was well qualified to judge of the spiritual 
condition of the Church around him. In a word, 
we may say that in the Swedish congregations the 
cardinal doctrines of the gospel were preached in 
the pulpit and from house to house. They were 
insisted upon as the subjects of a living, saving 
faith ; they were believed by the people and exem- 
plified in their lives. They served to guide and 
instruct the young ; they were for the comfort 
and consolation of the old. Their prevalence 
secured to the faithful pastors many souls as seals 
to their ministry ; and under their influence the 
churches were increased and edified. 

After the intimate fellowship that subsisted for 
so long a time between the Germans and the 
Swedes in the bosom of the Lutheran Church, a 
day of separation came. The Germans continued 
faithful to the doctrine and order of their Church. 
The Swedes broke loose from their historical con- 
nections ; they turned aside from their venerable 
Lutheran antecedents; they essayed to swim 
alone, and were soon swallowed up in the stream 
of High- Church Episcopacy. 

This event does not appear to have been the 
result of any angry controversy upon the sub- 
ject either of doctrine or of polity. It was not 
brought about by any acknowledged or existing 
incongruity between the German and Swedish ele- 
ments. Both agreed in testifying to all men repent- 
ance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ. They taught everywhere that nothing 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 53 

would avail in Christ Jesus but a new creature. 
In their churches and families they were all alike 
in the use of Luther's Small Catechism and the 
Augsburg Confession. In their sy nodical conven- 
tions they stood side by side in their respectful 
deference to " our Symbolical Books." We will not 
say that the} 7 regarded the Bible as the only infal- 
lible rule of faith and practice ; for, as Lutherans, 
it does not appear that they could have done other- 
wise. The Augsburg Confession itself protests 
against " entailing upon our children any other doc- 
trine than that of the pure divine word and Chris- 
tian truth." We will not say that they did not 
desire the Augsburg Confession to supersede the 
word of God ; for we might then be asked, Where 
is the Lutheran who has ever been conscious of 
such a desire ? In a word, they agreed in every 
thing. As members of the same Lutheran family, 
they were not conscious of any diversity of sen- 
timent, even upon the subject of ecclesiastical 
polity. The Swede would as soon have pretended 
to trace his descent from a nobler race than the 
family of man, as presume to claim for his minis- 
try, a higher authority or a greater value than 
belonged to the ministry of his German brother. 
They were all brethren ; and amongst themselves 
there could be no cause for separation, for there 
was no strife between them. 

Notwithstanding all this, the Swedish brethren 
withdrew from the fellowship of the Lutheran 
Church in America ; and whoever undertakes to 



54 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

follow up their history as developed in later years, 
will find them moving along smoothly and noise- 
lessly amidst the forms and traditions of English 
Episcopalianism. 

In view of the lofty pretensions put forth by 
High-Church Episcopalians of the present day, it 
seems to us unaccountable that any respectable 
portion of the Lutheran Church should be willing 
to abandon its own venerable historical connec- 
tions, and humbly receive, in return, the vaunted 
benefits of what is called the apostolical succes- 
sion. Indeed, if the Swedish Churches had con- 
tinued faithful to their Lutheran profession until 
the present generation, there is no reason to sup- 
pose that they would regard the exclusive claims 
of English Episcopacy with any more favor than 
is felt by the existing membership of the Lutheran 
Church in America. Of the Swedish immigrants 
settling in our Western States within the last few 
years, several large and flourishing congregations 
have been formed. Their attachments are not to 
the Episcopal but the Lutheran Church ; and in 
the language of the Archbishop of Sweden, in a 
letter to certain Swedes in this country, in the 
year 1850, they speak of a departure from the 
Lutheran to the Episcopal Church as being, " if 
not an apostasy, at least a downfall."* 

But the condition of the Lutheran Church, that 
of the Episcopalians, and the relations between 

* Rev. L. P. Esbjorn. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 55 

them, were, towards the close of the last century, 
vastly different from what they are at present. So 
the transition of the Swedes from the one to the 
other, which at this time would be at least a down- 
fall, may have been effected, in the day of its occur- 
rence, by most honorable motives and by the 
plainest force of circumstances. It was done, in- 
deed, without any dissatisfaction with the Lutheran 
Church, — without any special preference for the 
forms, without any peculiar approbation of the 
claims, of Episcopalians. 

Indeed, so fraternal, so cordial, was the inter- 
course between the Lutheran and Episcopal 
clergy of these earlier years, that it deserves to be 
spoken of as an honor to both. That they invited 
Muhlenberg to visit the annual Convention of 
Episcopal ministers, and treated him with the 
utmost deference when he took his seat amongst 
them ; that they requested him to preach, in the 
Episcopal church in Philadelphia ; that they main- 
tained towards him and the Lutheran ministry in 
general the attitude of Christian brethren in the 
pastoral office, — all this was as honorable to the 
Episcopalians as to the Lutherans themselves. 
It would be unfair, too, to suppose that these 
Episcopalians adopted this course under the im- 
pression that the Lutherans might gradually be 
led, by a certain patronizing air, to abandon their 
own foundation, and adopt Episcopal rule, — apos- 
tolical succession and all. They were too well 
informed not to know the hearty attachment of 



56 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the Lutherans to their Symbolical Books and their 
ecclesiastical immunities. It is true that they 
contemplated establishing a closer union between 
the Churches ; but in this contemplation the Epis- 
copalian never allowed himself rudely to question 
the clerical character of the Lutheran ministry, nor 
arrogantly to insinuate that Episcopalians were 
the Church and Lutherans were schismatics. 

In short, strong sentiments of mutual regard 
and good faith bound Lutherans and Episco- 
palians together. Had both then been united so 
as to constitute one Church, it would have- been 
the union of two Churches each of which had 
previously recognized the Christian character and 
polity of the other. So, when the Swedes began 
to approach towards the Episcopal Church, the 
movement implied, on their part, no disavowal 
whatever of the doctrine and polity of Lu- 
theranism, no acknowledgment at all of the ex- 
clusive claims with which the Episcopacy of more 
recent times has attempted to fill our ears. 

The circumstances that led them to make this 
movement were wholly of an external character. 
Although the Swedish language had been pre- 
served in their churches, for many years, in its 
purity, yet, about the middle of the last century, 
it began to yield to the greater prevalence of the 
English. 

Wisely endeavoring to accommodate themselves 
to the advancing change, they petitioned the au- 
thorities of the Church in Sweden to extend to 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 57 

their pastors permission to preach in the English 
language. This petition was addressed to the 
Archbishop and Consistory of Upsal, in the year 
1758, shortly after the decease of the Kev. Mr. ' 
Parlin.* In the year 1759 the eventful ministry 
of TTrangel began ; and it was not the least of 
his distinctions that he was diligent in laboring 
amongst the Swedes through the medium of the 
English language, — perhaps in cherishing their 
fondness for it. He preached in English, he trans- 
lated Luther's Small Catechism into English, he 
taught the children in English ; and it is altogether 
reasonable to suppose that the use of tl^e English 
language, which had been a mere matter of desire 
among the Swedes in 1758, before Wrangel came, 
should have become indispensable in 1768, after 
his departure. 

This growing necessity for services in the Eng- 
lish language increased the demand for men who 
might be able to preach in English with ease and 
with acceptance. The venerable Swedish pastors, 
who still served to keep up the ancient connection 
with the Church in Sweden, were held as worthy 
of all honor ; but the congregations began to feel, 
and soon expressed the necessity, of having pas- 
tors who had been educated in this country ; for 
the Swedish language was about becoming ex- 
tinct, and the English was completely occupying 
its place. 

* Clay's Annals, p. 124. 



58 • EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

But, in those days, the ministry of the Lutheran 
Church seems to have been trained and educated 
abroad. Neither the Germans nor the Swedes 
could furnish the men, of requisite qualifications 
and of a Lutheran spirit, to occupy the Swedish 
pulpits and labor in the Swedish congregations in 
the English language. The Episcopal Church of 
England having long cultivated friendly relations 
with the Lutheran Church, it was to the Episco- 
palians that the Swedes at once resorted. Their 
demand was promptly supplied, and for many 
years before the close of the last century we find 
Episcopal .clergymen diligently officiating, as as- 
sistants and rectors, in the Swedish churches. 
The introduction of this element, of course, pre- 
pared the way for the adoption of other and 
stronger elements of Episcopacy, as they might be 
developed in the lapse of time. In the year 1787, 
an amendment of the charter legalized the elec- 
tion of Episcopal as well as of Lutheran clergy- 
men as pastors of the churches ; and in a short 
time their transition from the Lutheran to the 
Episcopal fellowship was completed. 

Beyond this point it is not worth our while 
at present to prosecute their history. Whether 
the change was so gradual as to have produced 
no perceptible impression upon themselves, or 
whether they woke up suddenly and found, to 
their surprise, that they were Episcopalians instead 
of Lutherans, are questions of little moment here. 
The change was in every respect contrary to the 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 59 

spirit of the Swedish Church, and was completed 
only after their connection with the Church in 
Sweden had been virtually dissolved. 

Of all the nations that adhere to the Lutheran 
Church, the Swedes have ever been the most 
faithful in their support and defence of her Sym- 
bols ; and the prominent position which Luther's 
Catechism and the Augsburg Confession held 
among the Swedes in America for upwards of one 
hundred and forty years, is a sufficient indication 
that their attachment to the Lutheran Church 
was hearty and sincere. 

In view of the circumstances under which their 
connection with the Church in Sweden was dis- 
solved, the thought might occur, that it could be 
fairly regarded as an attempt to set up an Ame- 
rican Lutheran Church, although it was not so 
avowed. An American Lutheran Church might 
be defined to be a Church in America, which, 
whilst it retains the name of Lutheran, disclaims 
connection with the Lutheran Church in Europe, 
and is at liberty to adopt or to reject any feature 
of polity or of doctrine it may think proper, with- 
out respect to the ancient Symbols of Lutheranism. 
Such, practically, was the course pursued by the 
Swedes ; and the fate that so soon overwhelmed 
them is full of warning that might be regarded 
with profit at the present day. Breaking off from 
ecclesiastical connections that had been rendered 
venerable and glorious by the sufferings, the vic- 
tories, the spiritual heroism of successive genera- 



60 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

tions, they became American Lutherans. Do we 
look for something noble, some striking token of 
good, as the first-fruits of this unusual movement? 
We hear nothing but the rustling of the robes of 
Episcopacy ; and these American Lutherans fade 
wholly from our sight amid the flowing vestments 
of the apostolic succession. 



i 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 61 



CHAPTEE m. 

THE DUTCH. 

However, as the Lutheran Church at present 
exists in America, the seed by which it was origi- 
nally sown was German. Among the early colo- 
nists that Holland furnished for the settlement of 
the New Netherlands, as New York was then 
called, there was a small proportion of Lutherans. 
The Dutch do not appear in the beginning to 
have been strongly characterized by intelligent 
Christian zeal. They concerned themselves very 
little, if at all, about the conversion of the Indians. 
The chief object of the Government at home, and 
of the colonists themselves, seems to have been to 
raise the New Netherlands to the highest degree 
of commercial prosperity. If years, if many years, 
elapsed then before the Lutherans from Holland 
made any combined effort on behalf of the Church, 
this is to be accounted for by the prevalence of the 
worldly aims that generally ruled amongst the 
Dutch. 

After a while, however, their religious sentiment 
began to awaken and extend. Yet almost every 
step of their progress was taken in the face of an 
opposition that rose at times even to persecution 



02 EARLY HTSTORY OF THE 

itself. The Lutherans in Holland never sympa- 
thized in the doctrinal system of the Arminiana ; 
but in popular opinion they were confounded with 
that condemned party, and exposed to a share in 
its persecutions. Those of them who had emi- 
grated to the New Netherlands were in the habit, 
as early as the year 1644, of meeting in private 
houses for purposes of social devotion. Well 
disposed towards their Dutch Reformed brethren, 
they were pleased to meet with them in their sea- 
sons of public worship, and, having no pastors of 
their own, they were anxious to have their children 
baptized by the ministers of that denomination. 
In such cases, however, they were required to pro- 
fess their belief in the truth of the doctrines pro- 
mulgated by the Synod of Dort, and to promise to 
train up their children in the same. This would 
have made them and their families rigid Calvinists 
at once. It would have been a step which multi- 
tudes of German Reformed Churches on the con- 
tinent of Europe — in Brandenburg, in Hesse, and 
at Bremen — were themselves unwilling to take.* 
Of course, no conscientious Lutheran could agree 
to the prescribed terms. Their refusal drew down 
upon them the violence of the Established Church. 
The two ministers of the Dutch Reformed, Mega- 
polensis and Drisius, in the ardor of mistaken zeal, 
demanded that all Lutheran parents should attend 
church with their children, and have them publicly 

* Goericke, Part III. p. 566. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 63 

baptized according to the formulary of the Synod 
of Dort. Several Lutherans refusing to comply 
with this extravagant demand were arrested, fined, 
and in default of payment thrown into prison. 

Notwithstanding these difficulties, the congrega- 
tion of Lutherans continued to grow both in num- 
bers and in zeal. About the year 1653, both the 
Dutch and the German Lutherans of the New 
Netherlands united in a petition addressed to the 
civil authorities in Holland, asking the privilege 
of electing their own pastor and holding public 
worship according to the tenets of the Lutheran 
faith. This petition, so reasonable in itself, was 
zealously urged by the Lutheran Consistory of 
Amsterdam, and every relation and bearing of the 
subject held forth the hope of a favorable answer. 
Megapolensis and Drisius, however, lifted up the 
voice of remonstrance against it: they bewailed, 
they said, the spread of sectarianism, and spoke of 
the dangerous consequences of extending such 
privileges to the Lutherans. The Anabaptists, 
the Mennonists, the Quakers, and the English In- 
dependents, they said, abounded in the province ; 
and, if the Lutherans were indulged, all the others* 
would demand the same thing for themselves. In- 
fluenced by these representations, the Classis of 
Amsterdam and the Directors of the West India 
Company refused the petition of the Lutherans, 
and instructed Stuyvesant, the Governor of the 
New Netherlands, to employ all moderate means 
for the purpose of luring the Lutherans into the 



64 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Dutch Reformed Church and matriculating them 
in that religion. 

Stuyvesant gladly received these instructions. 
They ran at least in the direction that was most 
pleasing to himself and his spiritual colleagues 
Megapolensis and Drisius. But they did not go 
far enough. So, rejecting the moderate policy 
that his superiors had recommended, he avowed 
himself as ready to go greater lengths than ever 
in the spirit of religious persecution. 

The Lutherans had long been accustomed to 
meet in their own dwellings for purposes of 
social devotion. Against these meetings, called 
"conventicles" in contempt, Stuyvesant published 
a fiery proclamation, showed that the Lutherans 
could expect no indulgence from him, encouraged 
the Dutch Reformed clergy in enforcing their bap- 
tismal formulary, so obnoxious to the Lutherans, 
and continued to punish by fines and imprison- 
ments those who refused submission. 

This cruel intolerance, being reported to the 
Directors of the West India Company, drew forth 
from them such a rebuke as for a season cheered 
the hearts and revived the hopes of the Lutherans. 
They renewed their appeals to the civil and eccle- 
siastical authorities in Holland for permission to 
organize their own church and to call their own 
pastor. They obtained a promise of toleration, 
and avowed the hope that a person would, before 
long, arrive from the fatherland, properly qualified 
to instruct them and watch over their souls. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IX AMERICA. 65 

The first practical result of their efforts to 
establish the Lutheran Church is seen in the 
arrival of the Eev. John Ernest G-oetwater, in 
the month of June, 1657. He came commissioned 
by the Lutheran Consistory of Amsterdam to act 
as pastor of the Lutheran congregation " at the 
Manhattens." The determined opposition, not to 
himself, but to the Lutheran Church, led off by 
the Dutch clergy and acquiesced in by the civil 
authorities of the province, prevented him, how- 
ever, from even entering upon his labors. He 
was cited to appear before the civil tribunal, and 
forbidden to preach, or to hold any Lutheran " con- 
venticles:" in short, he was forthwith banished 
from New Amsterdam ; and, having spent some 
few weeks in sickness in the suburbs of the city, 
he embarked in the month of October, and re- 
turned to Holland. 

Upon the surrender of the New Netherlands to 
the crown of Great Britain in 1664, the Lutherans 
readily obtained from the English authorities what 
the Dutch had always denied them, — the privilege 
of holding their worship publicly in the city of 
New York. This privilege was continued to them 
by the successive governors of the province. The 
Church, thus released from its bonds, began to 
devise ways and means for the discharge of its 
high and holy duties to the gospel and to the 
world. Their efforts to obtain a pastor for them- 
selves were so far successful; and in 1669 the 
Rev. Jacob Fabritius commenced his ministry 



66 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

amongst them. His talents were of a high order, 
his learning solid and extensive, his gifts and 
bearing such as belong to the eloquent and at- 
tractive speaker ; but his spirit was haughty, self- 
ish, and overbearing, whilst his morals were such 
as to have destroyed his personal influence for 
good, and exposed him even to public reproach. 
Indulging his appetite for strong drink, he fur- 
nished another of the many sad evidences the 
world has seen of the power of intemperance to 
make havoc in the Church. During eight years 
he labored in New York, and, at the expiration 
of that time, received and accepted a call from the 
Swedish Church of Wicaco on the Delaware. 

Of the condition, of the church from this time 
until the close of the century very little has been 
recorded. The successor of Mr. Fabritius was 
Rev. Bernard Arint; but of the period of his 
connection with the church as pastor no specific 
notice has been taken. 

In the year 1701 the Rev. Mr. Rudman, intend- 
ing to return to his native land, resigned the 
charge of the Swedish Church in Philadelphia. 
As the Lutherans in New York, however, had 
been for a long time without a pastor, he yielded 
to their urgent solicitation and settled in that city. 
The climate proved to be too severe for his con- 
stitution. He therefore withdrew; and, having 
abandoned the purpose of returning to Sweden, 
upon retiring from New York he became a pastor 
once more in the vicinity of Philadelphia. His 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 67 

concern for the church in New York, which he 
was about to leave, and his fear lest, if neglected, 
it might fall away from the pure faith of the gos- 
pel, made him exceedingly anxious to secure some 
worthy pastor to occupy the place. His wishes 
were accomplished. He obtained the consent of 
Justus Falkner to accept of the call which the 
Lutheran Church in the city of New York might 
extend to him. 

Justus Falkner, of Saxony, arrived in this coun- 
try a student of divinity. He was afterwards or- 
dained by three Swedish pastors in the church at 
Wicaco. Shortly after his ordination he became 
pastor of the church in New York, in the year 
1703. It was in this, the first year of his ministry, 
that the Holland Lutherans erected a church at 
the southwest corner of Broadway and Rector 
Streets, where, together with many German Lu- 
therans, they worshipped for a long time exclu- 
sively in the Holland and English languages, but 
adhering to the discipline, doctrine, and faith of 
the Lutheran Church. 

From this time until the year 1750 there were 
but three pastors in charge of this church. These 
were Justus Falkner, Christopher William Berck- 
enmeyer, and Christian Knoll. Under the minis- 
try of the former two, the church was large and 
flourishing, both spiritually and in its worldly cir- 
cumstances. Afterwards, however, serious conflicts 
arose ; old members became weary of strife and 
withdrew ; the children as they grew up threw in 



00 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

their lot with other churches ; and the congrega- 
tion which in times of oppression had contended 
so earnestly for the faith — which had begun the 
century under such favorable circumstances — was 
so completely reduced by a few years of conten- 
tion, that, in the year 1750, Muhlenberg, already 
sick at heart by what he had heard, when duty 
called him beyond the city of New York, sought 
earnestly, but all in vain, for some excuse to avoid 
the necessity of even looking in upon them.* 

During the ministry of the three pastors above 
named, the congregation stood in connection with 
the Mother-Church in Holland. To the Lutheran 
Consistory in Amsterdam they regularly reported 
the condition and progress of the congregation, 
and the pastors held their ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
subordinate to that body. 

Although many German Lutherans were con- 
nected with this church, yet it seems that for 
nearly fifty years the exercises of public worship 
were conducted only in the languages of Holland 
and England. During the last year of the ministry 
of Mr. Knoll as pastor of Trinity Church, the 
German language was, for the first time, allowed 
to be occasionally used. This measure was adopted 
mainly in consequence of a kind consideration for 
the necessities of the many German brethren who 
had arrived and settled in New York in that very 
year. The Germans, however, had been gathering 

* Bill in Chancery, 1840; Halle Reports, p. 363. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 69 

into New York for many years already; and in 
studying the history of this church, we cannot 
refrain from expressing our wonder at the early 
use of the English and the long omission of the 
German language in the exercises of public wor- 
ship. But the language of Holland, which always 
preponderated, was the native speech of the 
founders of the church. With this language the 
early German immigrants generally seem to Jiave 
been somewhat familiar ; whilst the English, being 
the language of the Government, increasing in the 
walks of business and of social life, and doubtless 
preferred by the younger portion of the church, 
presented claims which from the first were re- 
garded with respectful consideration. 

Not many years elapsed, however, before the 
Germans began to urge their own claims and that 
of their language. Contention, disorder, and divi- 
sions ensued. But we turn for the present from 
the contemplation of this one scene of confusion 
towards the long series of happy consequences 
that resulted from the immigration of the Ger- 
mans. 



70 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE GERMANS. 

The immigration of the Germans, who contri- 
buted to the planting of our Church, extended over 
a period of many years, varied in its numbers, 
was influenced by a diversity of circumstances, 
and yet continued from beginning to end, with 
perhaps but two exceptions, unchanged in its 
external poverty and in its lack of efficient pa- 
tronage. 

The earliest authentic record that we have of 
this immigration was drawn up by Muhlenberg, 
Handschuh, and Heintzelman, in the year 1754, at 
the instance of the Synod of Pennsylvania. . Be- 
ginning with the year 1680, and coming down 
to their own time, they specify five periods as dis- 
tinguished amongst themselves by their length or 
by the number and spirit of the German Luther- 
ans they transferred to our shores. From 1680 
to 1708, the number of Germans who ventured to 
cross the ocean was very small, and is noticed sim- 
ply upon the principle that they were the pioneers 
of the masses that soon rolled in after them. The 
troubles that were agitating Europe during this 
period, and the liberal religious principles advo- 






LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 71 

cated by William Penn, were the main causes of 
their movement to the West. Thankful, no doubt, 
to the kind Providence that gave them a new and 
peaceful home, they seem not to have been much 
concerned about the form of doctrine that had 
been dear to their fathers, and, with a capacity for 
easy adaptation to the new circumstances by which 
they were surrounded, many of them assumed the 
garb, the manner, and at length even the faith, of 
the Quaker. 

The second period extended from 1708 to 1720, 
and was distinguished as the time of the great 
emigration from the Palatinate, under the patronage 
of Queen Anne. The wars and the persecutions 
that had arisen because of the word were such as 
to favor the plans of the queen. Knowing the 
peaceable character of the Germans, and anxious 
to increase the population of her American colo- 
nies, she held out strong inducements to them to 
become British subjects. The generous offers of 
transport, subsistence, and land in the New World, 
were cheerfully accepted by the Germans; and 
thousands nocked to England, that they might 
take advantage of the rising tide of royal favor. 
About four thousand of these landed in the city 
of New York in the month of June, 1710. Many 
of them remained in the city, and afforded evi- 
dence of their devotion to the true faith of the 
gospel, by promptly seeking the privileges of 
Christian fellowship in the congregation of Hol- 
land Lutherans that had recently been organized. 



72 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

The benevolence of Queen Anne had truly been 
expanded in their favor upon a scale of royal 
munificence. In the province of New York, that 
tract of land on which the towns of Newburg and 
New Windsor have been built v as allotted to 
them ; and the patent expressly stipulates that it 
was granted for the support of Lutheran parish 
schools, and ministers for the Germans who might 
be settled in the neighborhood of the river Hud- 
son.* 

We know not which most to wonder at, — the 
favors attempted to be heaped upon the German 
Lutherans by the occupant of the British throne, 
or the apparent indifference of these Germans 
themselves to the possession of such princely 
domains. Perhaps they had not been correctly 
instructed, and did not clearly understand the in- 
tentions of the queen, or perhaps they had learned, 
from sad experience, to put no trust in princes. 
Certainly their first care had to be to provide sub- 
sistence, to keep off hunger and nakedness from 
their families. In the mean time, shrewd specu- 
lators seized upon the royal grant, and were too 
successful in diverting it from those for whose 
benefit it had been intended. 

• As the fall of the year approached, the great 
mass of these immigrants set their faces towards 
the interior, and, having advanced about one hun- 
dred miles north of the city of New York, they 

* Hazelius's History, p. 25. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 73 

occupied the homes allotted to them on Living- 
ston's manor. It was not through lack of indus- 
try or perseverance that they failed to prosper. 
The authorities of the colony exacted too large a 
portion of their lahor as payment for their pas- 
sage across the water in Government transports. 
Two or three years were enough to convince them 
that the interests of the whole required that this, 
their first settlement, should be at least partially 
abandoned. Accordingly, one hundred and fifty 
families resolved to advance farther into the wil- 
derness. 

They sent a committee of trusty men to a neigh- 
boring tribe of Indians, and obtained from them 
the possession and the good-will of a large and 
fertile region in Schoharie. Here, for a few years, 
though often exhausted by hunger and worn down 
by toil, they lived in peace and prospered. Their 
ignorance of the ways of the world, however, their 
imperturbable confidence in what they supposed 
were the engagements and promises of Queen 
Anne, soon exposed them to a series of annoyances 
and troubles which dismembered this their second 
settlement, and sent many of them adrift again to 
be lodged in some new home of the more distant 
wilderness. 

Supposing that the Indians had been the sole 
possessors of the soil, they were satisfied with the 
conveyance that was executed by the tribe. It 
never occurred to them that it was necessary to 
obtain patents or title-deeds from the royal gover- 



74 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

nor of New York. They lived without a preacher, 
without a civil ruler; every one did what was right 
in his own eyes; they hunted with the Indians, 
they attempted too to teach their wild neighbors 
the arts of peace ; the forest fell and yielded its 
place to the waving grain ; the bus}- streams were 
employed in advancing the useful operations of 
the mill; seven villages, small but thrifty, rose 
beneath their industry and ministered to their 
social enjoyment, whilst the long seasons of labor 
were occasionally relieved by manly sports, by in- 
nocent and temperate amusements.* 

They felt secure, too secure, in the possession of 
their ground. The law of nature, the law of na- 
tions, they said, would protect them in the enjoy- 
ment of the territory they had redeemed from the 
wilderness and improved at the cost of their own 
sweat and blood. But the absence of a legal title 
under the royal Government proved to be fatal to 
their security and their hopes, and, without any 
intimation of the crafty designs of the rapacious 
speculators who dispossessed them, the very soil 
was sold beneath their feet. In their distress they 
sent a delegation to England to obtain relief. 
Disasters by sea and by land obstructed their pro- 
gress. They had been anticipated and forestalled 
by the seven purchasers, and they returned to their 
homes with the sorrow for their loss deepened by 
the mortification of their defeat. The colony was 



* Simm's History of Schoharie. 






LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 75 

divided. Some families bowed to the force of cir- 
cumstances, and, taking a lease of their farms as 
offered by the Proprietors, remained at Schoharie. 
A large portion set out in 1723, in company, to- 
wards the West. They soon struck the Susque- 
hanna, and, following its course, entered within the 
borders of Pennsylvania. A few days of irregular 
wandering brought them to the region of the Tul- 
pehocken and the Swatara; and there, still among 
the Indians, they sought to establish themselves 
at a distance of some seventy or ninety miles north- 
west of Philadelphia.* 

Of the four thousand immigrants who arrived 
in 1710, a considerable portion seem to have 
turned themselves at once towards the South and 
taken up their abode in and around the City of 
Penn. This was a Paradise of the Quakers. The 
plain garb, the plain speech of the Friend were to 
be seen and heard everywhere. The benevolence 
and easy familiarity of his manner, the signs of 
worldly thrift that attended him, both in town and 
in country, the talent for shrewd and close calcu- 
lation that seemed to be natural to him, — these 
things were not without effect in attracting the 
attention of the Germans to the Society, and ulti- 
mately drawing some even of the Lutherans into 
the fellowship of the Meeting. Others, however, 
more firmly established in their faith, though with- 
out any of the ordinary privileges of religion, con- 

* Halle Reports, p. 973, et seq. 



76 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

tinued in prayer and meditation to possess their 
souls in patience until the dawn of a better day. 

So, by a variety of circumstances, personal pre- 
ferences, disappointments, disasters, providential 
dealings, it happened that these four thousand 
Germans, with their natural increase, were scat- 
tered broadcast throughout the land. After fif- 
teen years of agitation and uncertainty, they are 
all disposed of. They grow with the growth of 
New York and Philadelphia; they cultivate the 
soil upon the flats of the Hudson ; they are faithful 
to their engagements as tenants in Schoharie ; they 
subdue and enliven the wilderness of Pennsyl- 
vania along the Tulpehocken and Swatara. 

Of the religious character of this immigration, 
as far as it was Lutheran, we might say much if 
our object were to illustrate personal experience. 
We could show the young man, who, though active, 
bold, and enterprising, yet bears the cross in his 
youth and seeks to refresh himself beneath his 
burden by the faithful use of the word of God 
and prayer. We could speak of the old man, who, 
pressing on towards fourscore years and ten, and 
being faithful unto death, grows eloquent until 
the hearts of believers melt under his testimony 
of the grace of God in Christ upon his soul.* 
But our duty at present is rather to speak of the 
religious character of their community at large. 

The Lutherans among them were, for the most 

* Halle Reports, pp. 975, 162. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 77 

part, sound in their adherence to the Lutheran 
faith, and at heart desirous of transmitting it, 
pure and genuine, to their children. But the 
depth of their poverty, the necessity of immediate 
attention to their daily wants, the uncertainty of 
their several positions and movements, the ab- 
sence of religious teachers and pastors, and the 
lack of foreign patronage, all combined to delay 
and prevent the construction of congregations, 
and the erection of houses suitable for the pur- 
poses of public worship. The party that remained 
from the beginning in the city of New York, in 
seeking the fellowship of the Church, and in all 
their active efforts to advance the Lutheran faith, 
indicated what their brethren would have done in 
the interior, had their circumstances been at all 
favorable to a general movement on behalf of the 
Church. There was a will, but there was no way ; 
and this second period of immigration is lost in 
the third before these beneficiaries of Queen Anne 
are permitted to welcome a pastor amongst them, 
or to unite in public worship within any enclosure 
more dignified than a barn or a hovel of frame- 
work. 

During the third period, extending from 1720 
to 1730, the immigration of German Lutherans 
brought large additions to the materials about to 
be used in the establishment of the Church in 
America. The arrival of several companies with 
pastors of established character, having the over- 
sight of the flock, led several of the earlier settle- 



78 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

raents to take a stop or two in advance of all their 
former progress. Those in New York and those 
in New Jersey sent imploring letters to Holland 
and to Hamburg, in answer to which they re- 
ceived from abroad now an acceptable pastor, 
then books of devotion, and then, again, pecu- 
niary contributions for the erection and support 
both of the school and of the Church. 

Indeed, during the whole of this period there 
was much agitation of a kind peculiarly calcu- 
lated to animate pious Lutherans with earnest 
longings for religious privileges, and for the order 
and fellowship of their own Church. With the 
increase of population from abroad there came 
also an increase in the variety of sects and doc- 
trines and opinions. The number of those who 
forsook the word of the Lord and turned aside 
from the form of the Lutheran faith appeared 
to grow from year to year. The fathers of 
strange sects, the heads of iiew parties, religious 
adventurers, scheming fanatics, who knew well 
how to pervert the language of Scripture to gain 
their own ends, who could clothe error with such 
a garb of sanctimoniousness as to mislead and 
seduce many, came on, thronging the settlements 
of the Germans. They derided the Lutheran 
Church ; they sought, by persecution or by blan- 
dishments, to move her children from their stead- 
fastness ; and their success was often such as to 
cause great grief in the hearts of those who had 
been taught by our Confession to believe only in 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 79 

God and in the word of his grace. Then the 
word of the Lord was precious in the land : there 
was no open vision. The soul, afflicted in the 
dreary night, sighs for the morning; and the Lu- 
therans, who loved the Church and had ever de- 
lighted in her sweet communion, grieved by the 
devastation they saw around them, sighed and 
prayed for pastors who might go in and out 
amongst them, who might instruct their children 
in the faith, and who, as true and holy men, 
might, with the divine blessing, defend them and 
their Church against all opposers. 

And the Lord had respect to the desires of them 
that loved Zion. The holy office was sometimes 
assumed by worthless men who had been de- 
graded in Germany, or by ignorant schoolmasters, 
who had a tact for winning confidence, and an 
ambition to lord it over the Church. But even 
in the midst of this destitution and danger, there 
were still some pastors and teachers raised up for 
the work of the ministry for the edifying of the 
body of Christ. The pastors Hinkle, Falkner, and 
Stoever, belong to this period, — Knochendahler, 
Berckenmeyer, Knoll, Wolf, and Hartwich. They 
labored not wholly in vain ; but the lives of some 
of them were cut short, and the success of others 
was limited by the unprofitable agitations and 
conflicts in the midst of which they lived. 

The fourth period of immigration extended from 
1730 to 1742. The desires that had been felt in 
many places for the regular ordinances of the 



80 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Church, and previously expressed in urgent let- 
ters to the fatherland, began now to ripen into 
healthy, vigorous action. The Lutherans in Phila- 
delphia had united in the organization of a church. 
Those who had settled thirty or forty miles north- 
west of the city — in Providence and New Hano- 
ver — had taken the same measures. Not willing 
to countenance the pretensions of the worthless 
schoolmasters who were prowling around making 
havoc of the flock, they applied to the Swedish 
Ministerium, and obtained from them such services 
as were necessary for the instruction and confirma- 
tion of the young, and such as a communion-sea- 
son might require. But the Swedes were over- 
burdened with the care of their own flocks; and 
this, added to the difficulty they found in attempt- 
ing to minister in the German tongue, showed, 
from the first, that this arrangement could not be 
long continued. Meanwhile, the children were 
growing up in ignorance, save in those few cases 
in which the piety and intelligence of the parents 
could train them to an experimental knowledge of 
God and of divine things. The Lutheran faith was 
exposed to reproach by the infamy of those who 
had forced themselves, uncalled and unqualified, 
into the pastoral office; and reflecting minds and 
believing hearts both saw and felt that what ought 
to be done must needs be done quickly. 

Accordingly, in the jear 1 ,33, the congregations 
in Philadelphia, Providence, and New Hanover, sent 
a delegation of their brethren to Europe to repre- 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 81 

sent their spiritual necessities, both in England 
and in Germany, to collect funds for the building 
of churches and school-houses, and especially to 
enlist, for the service of the Church in America, 
such good and faithful men as might be willing 
and competent to bear the pastoral office amongst 
them.* The principal member of this delegation 
was Daniel Weissiger, of Philadelphia, whose name 
deserves to be held in remembrance for his intelli- 
gent devotion to the interests of the Church, and 
for his laborious enterprise on her behalf. 

Passing through England, they waited upon 
Rev. Dr. Ziegenhagen, Court-preacher in Lon- 
don, and were greatly encouraged by his prompt 
and generous co-operation. He furnished them 
with letters of commendation to his friends and 
brethren in Germany; he appealed to them on 
behalf of the poor famishing lambs and nocks of 
Jesus Christ in America; he plead hard that some 
refreshment at least might be sent before they 
would utterly perish ; he made a personal applica- 
tion to the Rev. Dr. and Professor Francke, in 
Halle; he enforced these appeals by raising funds 
and procuring the books most necessary for spirit- 
ual instruction, to be at once distributed amongst 
the German Lutherans in America. 

Upon their arrival in Germany the delegation 
were kindly received. In addition to their per- 
sonal labors, they used the agency of the press in 

* Halle Reports, p. 4. 



82 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

spreading their wants before their brethren. En- 
couraged by the patronage and approbation of the 
Rev. Drs. Pfeiffer in Leipsic, and Francke in Halle, 
Pastor Maier and Senior Urlsperger in Augs- 
burg, they met with warm hearts and fervent 
prayers and material aid everywhere. The funds, 
however, were not large ; and, as though their main 
object had been to secure pastors for the flock, Weis- 
siger and his colleagues made this the subject of 
their last appeal, previous to their journey home : — 
" Send us pastors who will teach us and our children 
in the word of God, who will administer the holy 
sacraments in our congregations, and under their 
direction we have reason to believe that everything 
can be established and ordered in a Christian way."* 

Yet, after all, years elapsed and no pastor arrived. 
Letter after letter was forwarded, both to Eng- 
land and to Germany, from the three associated 
congregations. The unwillingness of the brethren 
in Germany to send any but a faithful, competent 
man, the difficulty they met with in their efforts to 
obtain the consent of such men to cross the ocean 
for the West, — these were amongst the principal 
reasons of the long delay. At length, in 1741, 
Providence opened the way for the calling of the 
Rev. Henry Melchi or Muhlenberg, as pastor of the 
churches in and around Philadelphia, and for his 
acceptance of the post. 

Muhlenberg, having left the scene of his earlier 

* Halle Reports 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. $6 

labors in Lusatia, arrived in England April 17, 
1742. After a sojourn of about nine weeks, ga- 
thering refreshment of spirit and strength for his 
work from his frequent intercourse with Dr. Zie- 
genhagen, chaplain of George II., he embarked 
in a vessel bound for Charleston, South Carolina, 
and landed in that city September 21. Though 
his destination was Philadelphia, there were never- 
theless sufficient reasons for bending his course 
towards this Southern port. 

In the year 1734, and subsequently, matters of 
great importance in the history of the Lutheran 
Church were transpiring in this portion of the 
colonies. A violent and relentless persecution — a 
persecution even unto death — had been started and 
kept up from year to year, by the Popish authori- 
ties and their people, against the Protestants of 
Salzburg, then the most eastern district of Bavaria. 
The sympathies of Christians, not only on the 
continent but even in England, were aroused on 
their behalf. The original object of the chartered 
company of " Trustees for Establishing the Colony 
of Georgia" was to provide a home and the means 
of subsistence for the indigent inhabitants of Great 
Britain. The distresses of the Lutherans of Salz- 
burg induced the Trustees to extend the wing of 
their protection over them; and so they avowed 
the additional object of "furnishing a refuge for 
the distressed Salzburgers and other Protestants."* 

* Strobel's History of Salzburgers, p. 45. 



84 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

The benevolence of this company provoked the 
"Society for the Propagation of Christian Know- 
ledge" to good works. This society had already 
been actively engaged in building churches, and 
providing pastors and supporting them, for the 
members of the Church of England in the colo- 
nies. Learning the action of the "Trustees" ou 
behalf of the Salzburgers, it began to interest 
itself for their removal to Georgia. A liberal grant 
of money to the colony in Georgia, made by the 
British Parliament, together with several thousand 
pounds raised by private contributions, enabled 
the "Trustees" to carry out their designs in regard 
to the Salzburgers. They invited fifty families to 
remove to Georgia, promising them liberal grants 
of land, and provision until their lands could be 
made available for their own support. 

The first company of emigrants consisted of 
forty-two men, with their families, — numbering in 
all seventy-eight souls. In the city of Augsburg, 
where they halted to refresh themselves, they were 
cheered by the affectionate kindness of the Lu- 
theran pastors and their flocks. Here they had an 
opportunity of personal intercourse with the Rev. 
Senior Urlsperger, so long the benevolent and the 
active friend of the Lutheran Church in America. 
In the city of Rotterdam they first met those two 
devoted men, John Martin Bolzius and Israel 
Christian Gronau, who at that time took their 
post as the pastors of the exiles, afterwards shared 
with them all the vicissitudes of their wanderings 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 85 

by sea and by land, and, like Moses and Aaron, 
were great in counsel and faithful in labor, even 
unto death. 

After a short sojourn in England, they embarked 
for America, and reached the city of Charleston, 
South Carolina, in the month of March, 1734. 
There they were at once welcomed by the benevo- 
lence and aided by the judicious counsel of the 
good General Oglethorpe, who had led over the 
first colony of English settlers, early in the year 
1733. Having refreshed themselves by a few 
days' repose in Charleston, they passed on to the 
city of Savannah, and encamped in its vicinity 
until arrangements were made for their permanent 
location. This duty was undertaken by a "-corps 
of observation," who selected a district some thirty 
miles in the interior, in what is now called Effing- 
ham county, Georgia. The exiles themselves ap- 
proved of the choice. Arriving upon the ground 
with their wives and their little ones, they set up 
a rock; they broke the silence of the wilderness as 
they sang a hymn of praise ; they sought the bless- 
ing of the Lord with the earnest voice of prayer ; 
they said, "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us;" 
and so, in the language of their excellent historian, 
"was the foundation laid for the Colony of the 
Salzburgers."* 

Upon this the superstructure gradually arose; 

* Strobel's History of Salzburgers, chap. iii. 



8b EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

and the additions made from time to time served 
not only to enlarge the external circumstances, 
but also to improve the spiritual condition, of the 
colony. Early in the year 1785, there arrived a 
second company of Salzburgers, numbering fifty- 
seven persons; and towards the close of the same 
year occurred what they called "the Great Em- 
barkation." Upon a visit of their friend General 
Oglethorpe to England, he was able to make such 
representations to the "Trustees" as inclined them 
to be even more active and enterprising than they 
had ever been, in building up and confirming the 
colony at Ebenezer, as their place was called. 
The operations of the "Trustees" in the settle- 
ments of Georgia were no longer an experiment. 
Their announcement that they would provide for 
the transportation of a given number of persons 
of approved character was answered by the appli- 
cation of above twelve hundred persons to be sent 
to Georgia. With a commendable solicitude for 
the welfare of their infant colonies, they resolved 
to encourage none but the worthy, and those 
whose characters and habits might be of advantage 
to the settlement. Accordingly, at this time they 
extended their benevolence chiefly to Highlanders 
from Scotland and persecuted Salzburgers from 
Germany. 

In the month of October, 1735, two ships set 
sail from Gravesend, bound for Georgia, with a 
company of emigrants amounting to two hun- 
dred and twenty-seven persons. Of these there 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 87 

were about eighty Salzburgers. The whole cha- 
racter of the company thus thrown together, for 
the first time, upon the eve of a perilous voyage, 
its whole character in all its variations, was such 
as to entitle it to special notice. 

There were the Highlanders and the Salzburgers 
and a few Moravians, peasants, or laborers, or me- 
chanics, having nothing of this world's goods, but 
rich in the treasures that come from above. 
Whether the ocean was calm or convulsed, these 
poor Germans — the men, the women, the very 
children — had the happy faculty of always dis- 
cerning the divine presence at their side : whether 
they were wafted on by breeze or gale, or fiercely 
tossed by storms, they felt that the eternal God 
was their refuge, and that always underneath them 
were the everlasting arms. Trouble might melt 
the souls of their companions, as on the raging 
billows they mounted up to heaven and went 
down again to the depths ; but no trouble was 
able to disturb their serenity : the Lord keepeth 
them in perfect peace whose faith is stayed on 
him. Associated with them in this voyage was 
Oglethorpe, himself the friend and patron of the 
Salzburgers already in Georgia. Of him the 
pastors in Ebenezer testified, "He bears great 
love to the servants and children of God." He 
was the constant benefactor of the Lutherans. 
His heart throbbed warmly for all around him ; 
he loved to relieve the indigent, to soothe the 
mourner ; and his name became known as another 



88 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

expression for "vast benevolence of soul."* In 
the same company were John and Charles Wes- 
ley, the latter the secretary of Oglethorpe, and the 
former going, as a preacher of the gospel, upon a 
mission to the Indians. The interest of the Wes- 
leys in divine truth was such as to render them 
susceptible of any impressions of the Holy Spirit 
that might reach them ; and their religious expe- 
rience had been so confined, that much enlarge- 
ment was needed as a preparation for the im- 
portant duties that were before them. 

To them these persecuted Lutherans preached 
the gospel, not in word, but in deed and in power. 
Having heard how calmly and peacefully the Salz- 
burgers could sing the praise of God when every 
heart was quaking and some were almost dead 
with terror in the storm, Mr. "Wesley himself felt 
that the religion of his own experience was en- 
tirely destitute of that calm, attractive, confiding, 
and heroic spirit which these Germans had exem- 
plified in the time of trial. He approached one 
of these believing men : — "Were you not afraid ?" 
The German replied, "I thank God, no !" "But 
were not your women and children afraid?" 
"No ! Our women and children are not afraid to 
die." Strange feelings were aroused in the heart 
of the great founder of Methodism. Conviction 
seized upon him. He felt that he was himself yet 
unconverted, — that his heart was not right in the 

* Bancroft's United States, vol. iii. chap 24. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 89 

sight of God. In the spirit of meekness he 
humbled himself under the mighty hand, he took 
counsel with them who knew the Lord, and at 
length, after the lapse of two years, and subse- 
quent to his return to England, he found peace in 
believing. This occurred at a Moravian prayer- 
meeting, during the reading of Luther's Preface 
to the Epistle to the Romans.* 

The majority of the Salzburgers in this com- 
pany were speedily added to the colony of their 
brethren in Ebenezer. From the character of the 
materials thus far described, and the workmen by 
whose skill they were to be moulded, it might be 
expected that the settlement of the Salzburgers 
would occupy altogether a prominent position in 
Georgia, and exert a lasting influence for good. 
As a whole, there seems to have been a more pre- 
valent piety amongst them — a more general and 
harmonious obedience to the dictates of elevated 
Christian principle — than was usually displayed 
by the German colonists of the North. ~No sooner 
do they take possession of the wilderness than a 
tabernacle is set up for the Lord. This is speedily 
followed by provision for the education of the 
children : then an asylum for the lonely orphan 
succeeds. So, whilst their brethren in the faith in 
Pennsylvania and adjacent States were clamoring 
for help from abroad, or flying like sheep in the 
midst of wolves, the Lutherans of Ebenezer 



* Strobel's History of Salzburgers. 
3* 



90 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

steadily cherish and exercise the grace of God 
in their own souls, and harmoniously co-operate 
in building up his kingdom amongst men. 

It was greatly to their advantage that, from the 
time of their first arrival, they enjoyed the over- 
sight of those two faithful pastors, Bolzius and 
Gronau. It was of immense service that Url- 
sperger and Fran eke in Germany, and Ziegen- 
hagen in England, — those venerable and eminent 
fathers in the Lutheran Church, — were so deeply 
interested on their behalf. Without this patron- 
age, and the unity of spirit and action that it pro- 
moted, they might have lived in almost utter des- 
titution and forgetfulness of religious privileges, 
like the early colonists of Schoharie ; they might 
have been distracted by the impositions of igno- 
rant and crafty pretenders to the pastoral office, 
like the unsuspecting farmers of Xew Hanover.* 
From the beginning, Urlsperger, Francke, and 
Ziegenhagen were particularly prominent in 
making the arrangements for their emigration 
and settlement. The high character of these 
Lutheran divines is a sufficient evidence that the 
persons whom they agreed to recommend as the 
guides and spiritual teachers of the Salzburgers 
were no ordinary men. 

Bolzius aud Gronau then had had a deep per- 
sonal experience in the ways of the Lord. As 
Lutherans, they had been taught by the Confes- 

* Stoever's Memoir of Muhlenberg, p. 53. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 91 

sion of the Church to build their faith upon no- 
thing but the inspired word, and to esteem it 
above all earthly price. Their administrative 
qualities were discreet and energetic, patient and 
commanding. They understood well the responsi- 
bilities of the post they occupied, and took the 
oversight of the flock not for filthy lucre's sake, 
but of a ready mind. Their piety, as manifested 
by their works, excited the admiration of White- 
field, for it appeared to him to be of that high 
order that is very rarely seen.* The fruits of 
their labor, as they grew and ripened at Ebenezer 
in peace and industry, in moral purity and Chris- 
tian love, presented to the eyes of strangers and 
visitors all the appearance of a field which the 
Lord hath blessed. 

From the time of its foundation until the year 
1741, over twelve hundred German Protestants 
had arrived in the colony. By the blessing of the 
Lord upon the faithful labors of their pastors, 
their town was marked by neatness and pleasant- 
ness. No drunken, no idle, no profligate people 
were amongst them ; industry and harmony pre- 
vailed, souls were converted by the word of God, 
and believers were edified. 

All these circumstances, and many more of an 
interesting character, were well known by those 
Lutheran pastors in England and in Germany 
who had been so active as the friends and patrons 

* Strobel's History, p. 110. 



92 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

of the colony. ISTo less concerned about the la- 
bors of Muhlenberg in the Xorth, than they. had 
ever been about those of Bolzius and Gronau in 
the South, they wished him to enjoy from the 
beginning all the benefits that might be derived 
from the experience of the pastors at Ebenezer. 

As they dismissed him for the field allotted to 
him in Pennsylvania, "Go," said they, u go first 
of all to our brethren in Georgia; seek the acquaint- 
ance of Bolzius and Gronau, the experienced pas- 
tors of the Salzburgers ; confer with them about 
the duties that are before you ; learn from them 
the peculiarities of the country and the best plans 
of operating amongst its people: you may expect 
that if it is possible Bolzius himself will accom- 
pany you to Pennsylvania, and so effect for you 
an easy entrance into the field of your future 
labors." 

It was in pursuance of these directions that 
Muhlenberg landed in Charleston. Having en- 
joyed two days' repose in this city, he went to Sa- 
vannah. Here he first met Pastor Gronau, and in 
company with him rode to Ebenezer. His voyage 
had been one of great peril and exhaustion. He 
required time to refresh himself. Eight days — the 
whole period of his stay at Ebenezer — were taken 
for this purpose; but the spirituality of his own 
character, as well as of the pastors of Ebenezer, is 
shown in the fact, that all three united many times 
during those eight days in seeking strength and 
refreshment from the word of God. With his 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 93 

diligent attention to the duties that had drawn 
him thither, the time was long enough to make 
him feel anxious to begin his own appropriate 
work. With these brethren he might well have 
felt at home, so sweet was their fellowship, so 
attractive were their external circumstances, and, 
in spiritual things, so promising was the future. 
Upon the eve of bidding them farewell, he wrote 
in his diary, -"So I must leave Ebenezer. The 
worthy patrons and benefactors in Europe have 
not exercised their benevolence in vain, for I have 
here seen the reality of the reports that have been 
published in Germany. In many respects, things 
are even in a much better condition than I had 
been led to anticipate. I am astonished at the 
signs of external prosperity ; and, in regard to the 
spirit, the prospects of the harvest are bright and 
glorious." The Christian affection he felt for 
these brethren was fully reciprocated, and an 
earnest of it was afforded by the fact that Bolzius, 
notwithstanding many serious difficulties, resolved 
to accompany him to Pennsylvania. 

They set out for Charleston October 12, 1742. 
Upon their arrival here, they learn that no vessel 
would be likely to sail for Philadelphia before the 
following spring, and that the journey by land 
was altogether out of the question. Thus arrested 
almost at the very threshold, they submit. Bol- 
zius returns to his post at Ebenezer, and Muhlen- 
berg collects and instructs the German children 
of Charleston, and, like Paul in Rome, expounds 



94 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

and testifies the kingdom of God to all who 
would come to him upon the Lord's day. 

The passage of Muhlenberg from Charleston to 
Philadelphia is indicative at once of his heroic 
and confiding spirit. On the 1st of November, a 
sloop — a crazy sloop — arrived from Philadelphia, 
with the intention of speedily returning to that 
port. In this vessel he resolved to set sail. All 
his friends united to dissuade him: the captain of 
the sloop himself said the vessel was too small ; it 
had no accommodations for passengers; it was the 
winter-season, and then the voyage was a very dan- 
gerous one. In defiance of these cautious argu- 
ments, he responded only to the calls of duty. 
He had seen in the public prints such representa- 
tions of the aflairs of the Church in the North as 
increased his anxiety to be there. So, on the 12th 
of November, he betook himself on board the 
sloop, and on the same day, in the name of the 
Lord, set sail for Philadelphia. On this vessel he 
passed two weeks of severe trial, drenched with 
rain, chilled with frost, sick and exhausted ; yet he 
arrived safely at the desired port at last.* 

* Halle Reports. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 95 



CHAPTER V. 

ORGANIZATION OF GERMAN CHURCHES. 

The judicious and persevering efforts of the con- 
gregations in and around Philadelphia, to secure 
the ministry of able and faithful pastors, may be 
regarded as the indications of a certain prominence 
belonging to them in the Lutheran Church in 
America. There was something in the province 
of Pennsylvania (shall we say it was the fertility 
of the soil, it was the salubrity of its climate ?) that 
rendered it especially interesting and attractive to 
the Germans. Muhlenberg, in giving his first 
impressions, which he never saw reason to alter, 
described it as a land flowing with milk and 
honey, — as the best of all the regions of the con- 
tinent for his countrymen. Such was the prevail- 
ing sentiment. There were Germans in Georgia, 
at Ebenezer and Savannah ; there were Germans 
in the province of Maine, at Waldoboro, near the 
head of Muscongus Bay ; there were Germans at 
New York, and along the Hudson, and west of 
Albany. In the course of time the population of 
these several settlements was increased by various 
additions from abroad. But towards Philadelphia 
and the inland regions of Pennsylvania the tide 
of immigration was especially steady and strong. 



96 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Id the autumn of 1750, twenty vessels arrived 
at Philadelphia with twelve thousand Germans on 
board. Each of the two years immediately follow- 
ing brought almost as large a number. Through 
all these multitudes there ran a strong current of 
generous sympathy. They were fellow-country- 
men; they had become companions in trial and 
adventure. The movements of any considerable 
portion would be apt to excite the interest of all 
the rest; and whether they remained in Philadel- 
phia, or spread themselves over the regions that 
now belong to the counties of Bucks, Lehigh, 
Northampton, Berks, Lancaster, Dauphin, and 
Cumberland, in Pennsylvania, the developments 
of any particular part might be regarded by us as 
a fair specimen of the spirit of the whole. 

This is especially true of those who, whether in 
city or in the inland regions, were united in the 
fellowship of the faith. The Lutherans of Phila- 
delphia and its vicinity, therefore, may be regarded 
as fair representatives of the Lutheran Church; 
and a history of their progress, though it would 
contain mairy local facts, might nevertheless be, in 
its spirit, a correct history of many years of the 
Church in America. 

So Muhlenberg arrived in Philadelphia, and 
there lay the labors of a Hercules before him. 
He had not only had no one to prepare the way, 
but. on the contrary, there were many circum- 
stances and various personages that combined to 
block up the way and impede his progress. He 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 97 

compared the condition of the Lutherans with that 
of the members of other Churches in Philadel- 
phia; he compared it with that of the Lutherans 
in the fatherland; and he felt that it was deplora- 
ble enough to draw forth tears of blood. Scat- 
tered by hundreds, yea, thousands, through the 
land, were people who, according to their baptism, 
their education and confirmation, ought to have 
been active members of the Lutheran Church. 
Yet they lived without the enjoyment of religious 
privileges, many of them without even the desire 
for that enjoyment. The children were growing 
up without baptism, without religious instruction; 
they were verging fast on to heathenism, or start- 
ing off, on this side and on that, towards some one 
or other of the many sects and parties with which 
the land was filled. Unbelievers of various names 
and shades and nations were not unfrequently 
encountered ; and the condition of the Lutheran 
Church, in a word, was altogether such as might 
be expected to result from thirty years of con- 
fusion, disorder, and neglect. 

The little flock that still pretended to keep up 
the form and to cherish the spirit of our faith, 
both in Philadelphia and its vicinity, had been 
distracted and laid waste by crafty intruders into 
the pastoral office. Men who, for good reasons, 
had been deposed from the Lutheran ministry in 
Europe, and men who, for good reasons, might 
claim pre-eminence in other churches, had un- 
dertaken to pass themselves off as Lutheran 



y» EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

clergymen. For a while they succeeded in their 
schemes. They obtained a position ; they ma- 
naged affairs; they had things all their own way; 
and, as the last of the long series of calamities 
with which the Church was afflicted, they en- 
tered in where disorder and confusion already 
existed, and so made that disorder and confusion 
at once absolute and complete. 

We unite heartily with the Christian world in 
extending to the Moravian brethren of Herrnhut 
and their zealous descendants the high praise to 
which they are entitled for the sincerity of their 
devotion, the boldness of their missionary enter- 
prise, and their happy illustration of the gentle 
graces of the gospel. But in perusing' the re- 
cords of history we cannot omit to notice the fact 
that, at the period of which we are now speaking, 
Count Zinzendorf, the patriarch of the Moravians, 
had placed and sought to maintain himself in a 
position grossly offensive to Muhlenberg and to 
the eminent and holy men who had sent him 
hither. The count had come to Philadelphia ; he 
had assumed the name of Yon Thurnstein. He 
presented himself as a Lutheran preacher and 
inspector of all the Lutheran churches in Penn- 
sylvania. He took possession of the books of 
the Lutheran congregation in Philadelphia. He 
insisted upon Muhlenberg's bowing to his author- 
ity. He sought to prevent his preaching in the 
Swedish Church at Wicaco, and endeavored, in 
various ways, to excite such suspicions and pre- 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 99 

judices against him as might entirely prevent his 
exercising the pastoral office in the Lutheran 
Church.* 

Upon learning the state of affairs both in the 
Church and around it, the brethren in Europe 
were perfectly astonished, as they well might 
have been, at the resolution and the courage 
with which Muhlenberg, alone, unattended, with- 
out a colleague, without a friend, faced and bore 
down upon all these multiplied obstacles. In 
his previous history he had worn dignities with 
grace ; he had occupied high and responsible offi- 
cial positions with ability ; and now, by virtue of 
that apostolic talent that enabled him to be made 
all things to all men as his duty dictated, he 
minded not high things, but accommodated him- 
self to men of low estate. His papers, his cre- 
dentials, were so clear and satisfactory, — besides, 
they were so highly corroborated by his own per- 
sonal appearance, his address, his talent and spirit, 
— that it was not long before all opposers and 
gain say ers were dismissed or took their departure ; 
and the Lutherans, revived and reassured, began 
to unite and cluster around him. 

At that time there were seven churches in 
Philadelphia, — the Episcopalians, the Presby- 
terians, the Roman Catholics, the Baptists, the 
Quakers, the Moravians, and the Swedes, having 
each one place of worship. The religious exer- 



Halle Reports, p. 14. 



100 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

cises of the German Lutherans had been held in 
a private dwelling. Upon the arrival of Muhlen- 
berg, however, they obtained from the Swedish 
brethren, and continued to enjoy for a short time, 
the use of the church at Wicaco. 

No sooner had Muhlenberg entered upon his 
labors, than he began to till and cultivate every 
portion of the extensive field to which he had 
been called. Philadelphia, Providence or the 
Trappe, New Hanover or the Swamp, — the latter 
two places about thirty-five or forty miles north- 
west of the former, — were the principal scenes of 
his first solitary operations. About seven miles 
north of Philadelphia was Germantown. Here, 
too, the Lutherans had organized a congregation, 
which, in accordance with their earnest entreaties, 
after a few weeks, he also added to his bishopric. 
Early in the year 1743, he began to bear the heat 
and burden of the day in these localities, so 
dividing his time that he might devote one week 
to each congregation, excepting the one in Ger- 
mantown, which he treated as an appendage of 
the church in Philadelphia. He kept school all 
the week, and he preached the gospel every Lord's 
day. In his three schools, however, he collected 
not the little children, but the young people from 
eighteen to twenty years of age and upwards, — 
sometimes parents even, with their adult sons and 
daughters. He began with the principles of the 
doctrine of Christ ; he accommodated his instruc- 
tions to their several capacities ; he exhorted them 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 101 

with many words ; he was gentle among them as 
a nurse cherisheth her children ; he travailed until 
Christ was formed within them ; and, as the result 
of his labors, the churches were found to rejoice 
in seasons of refreshing from the presence of the 
Lord. 

During the course of the spring and summer 
of 1743, he was engaged in gathering in the first- 
fruits of his labors ; and whoever reads the simple 
and touching accounts he has himself furnished 
of this, his first spiritual harvest, will see that he 
who sows in tears may reap in joy. 

On Whitsunday, 1743, he administered the 
sacrament of the Lord's Supper in New Hanover. 
Here he had previously confirmed twenty-six 
catechumens. In this number there was a young 
woman of twenty-two years of age, who, in her 
seventh year, had been put out to service by her 
widowed mother. Having lived for fifteen years 
in an English family, without spiritual care, she 
had forgotten many of the lessons and utterly lost 
the language of her youth. The good pastor led 
her to the knowledge of Christ through the me- 
dium of our English speech ; and when this Ger- 
man congregation heard her publicly testify her 
faith in Christ in the language to which she had 
been used, they listened with profound interest, 
and were affected even to tears. On this occasion 
of the communion, the crowd was so great that the 
people trod one upon another. In Providence 
similar scenes transpired on Whit-Monday. They 



102 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

were repeated in other portions of his charge 
during the year. Late in the fall, he baptized, in 
the church at German town, a mother with her five 
adult children. They were so deeply affected that 
he "might almost have baptized them with their 
tears." He continued to watch for their souls, 
and " their growth in grace and their promise of 
-fruitfulness was most refreshing to behold." 

So it was. As we pass by the field where 
springeth up first the blade, then the ear, and, 
after that, the full corn in the ear, we are satis- 
fied, though we may not have seen it, that upon 
that field the hands and the feet of industry have 
toiled for weary hours, and hope and patience 
watched and waited — perhaps prayed — for the 
blessing from above. And as we look through 
this first ingathering of the few churches in Penn- 
sylvania, whilst we behold the laborious faithful- 
ness of the pastor, we may also discern the 
anxious, hopeful, prayerful spirit of the people. 
In Philadelphia, in Germantown, in Providence, 
and in New Hanover, had the prayer long gone 
up from many a heart, from many a house that 
mourned for the desolations of Zion : — " Turn us 
again, Lord God of hosts; cause thy face to 
shine, and we shall be saved." 

The effect of this little reviving was soon ap- 
parent in the external activity of the churches. 
They began to encourage each other in the erec- 
tion of houses for public worship. In prayer they 
spread the matter before the Lord. They entered 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 103 

upon it in his name. In the depth of their po- 
verty their liberality abounded. They sought and 
obtained aid from the fatherland; they enjoyed the 
favor of the Lord, and the work went bravely on. 
The congregation in Philadelphia, which was al- 
ready large, having purchased an admirable lot of 
ground in the centre of the city, were cheered as 
they witnessed the laying of the corner-stone of 
St. Michael's Church, with appropriate ceremonies, 
April 7, 1743. On the 20th of October following, 
though as yet not completely finished, it was so- 
lemnly consecrated to the worship of God. The 
corner-stone of the church in Providence was laid 
May 2d of the same year. The attentive crowds 
that witnessed the ceremony were composed of 
English as well as Germans ; and the pastor, 
having preached first in his native tongue, took 
advantage of the occasion to proclaim the word 
also to his English friends in their own language. 
On the 12th of the following September this 
church was so far finished that the congregation 
were able to leave the barn in which they had 
previously met, and, for the first time, worship 
God within the walls they had reared for his 
praise. Meanwhile, the congregation at "New 
Hanover, having previously had a church, were 
engaged in the erection of a school-house for the 
benefit of their children. 

These undertakings not only increased the cares 
of the pastor ; they also convinced both him and 
the people that the next object claiming their at- 



104 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

tention was an increase of laborers in the harvest. 
Their cry went out to Germany, — " Come over and 
help us!" It was an earnest cry; it was meant to 
be heard. Every ship that arrived at Philadelphia 
was hailed, first of all, with the inquiry, "Are 
there any Lutheran ministers on board?" At last 
they came. 

The Rev. Peter Brunnholtz, a native of Schles- 
wig, having first been proven and found faithful 
in the care of souls, was ordained April 12, 1744, 
and forthwith took his departure, duly commis- 
sioned as pastor of the churches in and around 
Philadelphia. In company with him came also 
the Messrs. Schaum and Kurtz, students of theo- 
logy, who had been well reported of for good 
works, and whose object was, first of all, to act as 
catechists or assistants of the two pastors in their 
new home. 

Having been subjected to many delays in 
England, and tossed by contrary winds upon 
their voyage, these three brethren at length 
reached Philadelphia, January 26, 1745. They 
landed ; and, as they were approaching the city, 
they met a German coming out of the forest, who, 
as he saw that they had arrived in the vessel lying 
in the harbor, first accosted them with the usual 
question : — "Are there airy Lutheran ministers on 
board?" Upon learning their character he leaped 
for joy: he took them to the house of a German 
merchant, known for his hospitality. The elders, 
the deacons, many members of the Church, soon 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 105 

gathered around them ; an express was sent off to 
Providence to convey the intelligence to Muhlen- 
berg ; and upon that day they all united to thank 
God and to take courage. There was very little 
delay about the commencement of their opera- 
tions. Before two weeks, Brunnholtz had visited 
all the churches and been acknowledged as co- 
pastor with Muhlenberg. Schaum opened his 
school in Philadelphia, and Kurtz did the same at 
New Hanover. 

Immediately after this increase of clerical force, 
the demand for pastoral services became louder 
and more extensive than ever. The four asso- 
ciated churches, 'tis true, were satisfied, as they had 
reason to be. They devoutly returned thanks to 
God, and sent back their grateful acknowledg- 
ments to the fathers and brethren in Europe, for 
the Christian kindness that had been experienced 
at their hands. They would ask nothing further 
for the present than the sympathy of prayer, the 
encouragement of friendly counsel, and some 
timely aid in liquidating the debts incurred by the 
building of the churches, for which Muhlenberg 
and a few of the elders, poor as they were, were 
themselves personally responsible. 

Ere long, however, news reached them from all 
the regions round about, that their brethren in the 
faith, less favored than they, were waking up to 
the things concerning the kingdom of God, were 
famishing for the word of life, were organizing 
congregations, were longing for some faithful 



106 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

pastor to instruct them in the truth and to admi- 
nister the sacraments amongst them. From Oley, 
and Schwartz wald, and Tulpehocken, above the 
Trappe; from Chester, below Philadelphia ; from 
Cohanzy, in New Jersey, where a church already 
existed; even from the distant settlement in Scho- 
harie, the most urgent entreaties for spiritual atten- 
tions were addressed to them. And what were 
they among so many ? Yet they were the men 
for the emergency. The two assistants, Schaum 
and Kurtz, whether engaged in the operations of 
their schools, or preparing the young people for 
confirmation, or occupying the pulpit upon the 
Lord's day, showed themselves apt to teach, for 
their hearts were in the work. They were pre- 
pared for any service the pastors might demand 
of them, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, — to go to 
any point, at any time, whither the interests of 
souls required. Had they done less, they might 
have blushed in view of the laborious and unwea- 
ried zeal of Muhlenberg and Brunnholtz. When 
the pastors were accustomed to recapitulate their 
sermons with their congregations, in the form of 
question and answer, — when they would go about 
from house to house, that they might apply the 
truth to the hearts of individuals, — when they 
sought, with affectionate concern, to ascertain the 
spiritual condition of every soul committed to their 
charge, — when they might be met, any day, labor- 
ing with equal earnestness near at hand or afar 
off among the destitute families of the wilderness, 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 107 

— it would not have become the two assistants to 
hang far behind in pastoral duty. 

The demand for pastors, however, was sent in 
from more remote congregations, with such touch- 
ing importunity, that both Schaum and Kurtz 
were promoted, at an early day, to posts of much 
greater prominence and responsibility. The former 
went to York in Pennsylvania, the latter to Tnl- 
pehocken; and there they labored faithfully and 
long. The Lord was not unmindful of their work 
and labor of love. Their churches were increased 
in numbers, and edified greatly ; and the memory 
of their self-denial, their heroism and devotion, 
lingers about these scenes of their early toils even 
to the present day. 

The name of York, Pennsylvania, occurring at 
this period of our history, is an evidence that it 
was one of the characteristics of the Germans, in 
that early clay, to spread themselves over all the 
land. The~ pastors from Philadelphia, who, from 
time to time, undertook a visitation of the Church, 
having reached their brethren at York, would 
press on as far as Maryland, and urge their way 
even into Virginia. Everywhere they met their 
fellow-countrymen, the children of the Augsburg 
Confession. Whither could they have gone along 
the seaboard without being reminded of their faith 
and their fatherland? Beginning with Maine, 
and continuing on to Georgia, the frequent and 
flourishing settlements of their brethren in the 
faith might easily have impressed them with the 



108 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

idea that the German nation and the Lutheran 
Church were ubiquitous. The comparative nu- 
merical strength of the Church, the purity of its 
spirit, and the fidelity of its discipline, held out a 
most promising future. It may not be useless for 
us to consider these facts, and, at the same time, 
to weigh the circumstances by which the hopes 
that they justified have, to so great an extent, 
been disappointed. 

The appeals of the pastors and congregations to 
the brethren in Germany were often renewed and 
insisted upon. Their tardy responses were not 
occasioned by any lack of interest in the welfare 
of the Church in America, but by the scrupulous 
caution with which the} 7 sought to commission and 
send out such pastors only as, being men of God, 
might make full proof of their office. In the year 
1746, Dr. Francke, of Halle, communicated a call 
from the churches in Pennsylvania to the Rev. 
John F. Handschuh, who for several years had 
been actively engaged in the labors of a successful 
ministry. The learning, the diligence and faith- 
fulness of Handschuh eminently qualified him for 
the post, whilst his views of duty were such as to 
induce him to throw himself body and soul into 
the work. The Lord, he said, had already pre- 
pared hirn for such an undertaking, — had lifted 
him up above many of the restraints of earth ; and, 
since the great change of his heart, he wished only 
to yield himself up entirely to the disposal of his 
Lord and Master, to whom he owed so much. He 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 109 

would go whithersoever the Lord might direct 
him, and offer up all that he had, that he might 
glorify the name of the Eedeemer amongst men. 
He felt, for a season, a certain misgiving, occa- 
sioned by a sense of his bodily weakness ; but he 
betook himself to prayer, and was then able to 
quiet his heart, as he inquired of it, " What objec- 
tion wilt thou urge if the Lord himself will have 
thee there ?" It seemed to him that the Lord had 
often taken the weak to confound the mighty ; and 
so he felt satisfied, that if God wished to have him 
in America, to labor in his kingdom there, he 
would surely give him, weak though he was, both 
grace and strength enough for every time of need. 
Vigorous efforts were made to seek out two as- 
sistants, who, associated with him as Kurtz and 
Schaum had been associated with Brunnholtz, 
might make his arrival even more joyful to the 
churches in Pennsylvania. These efforts, however, 
failed, and it was resolved that Hanclschuh should 
depart alone. In the month of June, 1747, he 
left his native land, and, directing his course 
through England, he arrived in London July 4. 
Here he tarried about six weeks. In the following 
September he embarked at Gravesend, and on 
April 5, 1748, he arrived in Philadelphia. On the 
26th of May following, he preached his introductory 
sermon as pastor of the church in the city of Lan- 
caster. This city contained at that time about 
four hundred houses. The Germans formed by 
far the larger part of the population, and, by a 



110 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

commendable spirit of enterprise, rendered it a 
prominent centre of attraction. The good living 
for which it had already become famous secured 
the addition of many to the number of its perma- 
nent inhabitants, and Handschuh foresaw that it 
would soon become and continue to be a great 
and populous city. 

There are peculiarities enough in the early his- 
tory and continued progress of the church in Lan- 
caster, to entitle it to some specific notice. It was 
large. It was in all respects German. Yet it con- 
tained a small, quite a small, proportion of Swedes, 
who, as Lutherans, of course stood in intimate 
fellowship with their German brethren. It was 
owing to this circumstance, that in their desire to 
obtain a pastor for their congregation, some time 
previous to the year 1745, they addressed them- 
selves to the Archbishop of Sweden. In Sweden, 
German students of theology were to be met with, 
and the expectation was that such a man, in addi- 
tion to his regular ministry in the German lan- 
guage, would be the more able to labor for the 
edifying of the Swedes also, who, from time to 
time, might come and settle amongst them. In 
their appeal to the archbishop they specify that 
they wish a teacher of the Holy Scriptures, who 
shall be true to the Augsburg Confession and the 
other Symbolical Books of the Church. 

The person by whose mission from Sweden this 
appeal was answered was a man by the name of 
Nyberg. Upon his arrival in Lancaster, he was 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. Ill 

received by the congregation as an angel from 
heaven, and duly acknowledged as pastor of the 
church, with the reiterated understanding that he 
should be faithful to the pure Lutheran doctrine. 
His prospects were most encouraging: he possessed 
the unbounded confidence of the people, and the 
promise of a glorious harvest seemed to rise fair 
and bright before him. But he proved himself to 
be unworthy of it all. The period of his connec- 
tion with the church was one of great uneasiness 
and turmoil to the brethren, of scandal in the 
eyes of the world, whilst it resulted at last in his 
own complete confusion. 

He was a man of keen susceptibility, of strong 
passions; and, had his training been thorough, his 
understanding enlightened and solid in propor- 
tion, he might have become long and eminently 
useful. But his zeal was without knowledge, his 
will was obstinacy, and his antecedents were alto- 
gether such as to unfit him for the responsible post 
of a Lutheran pastor. 

He had commenced his preparation for the 
active duties of life with the study of civil- 
engineering. Subsequently, however, he turned 
his attention to theology. The consequence of 
this late beginning of his theological course was 
a superficial, a very defective training, the un- 
happy influence of which might be seen at almost 
any point of his career. After the expiration of 
his academical course, he acted as private tutor in 
the family of a Swedish nobleman; and it was 



112 EARLY HISTORY < . THE 

through the influence of this man that he ob- 
tained, from the Consistory in Sweden, the appoint- 
ment called for by the appeal of the church in 
Lancaster. 

There is abundant evidence that even before he 
left Sweden, though professing to be a Lutheran, 
he had given his heart to the Moravians; and 
that, though he formally bound himself, by the 
Symbolical Books, only to the word of God, 
he devoted himself in spirit to the plans of 
Zinzendorf. 

The Lutherans of Lancaster — and, indeed, the 
Lutherans of any place — could have no reason- 
able objection against the labors of Moravian 
clergymen amongst their own people or amongst 
the people of the world at large. On the other 
hand, they have often admired their zeal, and 
rejoiced with great joy in their remarkable suc- 
cess. But when the pastor at Lancaster began to 
seek to pervert the church from its Lutheran fel- 
lowship, — to deride and misrepresent the evan- 
gelical Lutheran doctrine, — to decry Muhlenberg 
himself, and the faithful officers of the congrega- 
tion even, as most dangerous men, — it would have 
been strange indeed if the Lutherans, both in 
Lancaster and elsewhere, had not met such move- 
ments with an earnest and a firm protest. Such 
a protest was made. It excited Nyberg to take up 
a, position more hostile to the Lutheran interest, 
more openly favorable to the Moravians. His 
epistolary correspondence with them became frank 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 113 

and frequent; he appeared as an active partici- 
pator in the meetings of their Conferences; he 
was the chief agent in gathering a Moravian Con- 
ference in Lancaster in 1745, and in making 
arrangements for its accommodation. And so, by 
a course which would have been altogether praise- 
worthy in an honest Moravian pastor, but which, 
under the circumstances, was especially unbe- 
coming a Lutheran, he forfeited the confidence 
of his congregation, and plunged them into a long 
and trying series of troubles. 

During the progress of the conflict, the church 
was violently closed and guarded ; it was opened 
by force ; an appeal was had to the governor, who 
ordered it closed a second time ; counter-repre- 
sentations were made, and the governor opened 
the doors. The church was then violently closed 
again, and a suit was entered before the civil tri- 
bunal. It terminated in favor of the Lutherans 
and in the defeat of the friends of Nyberg. The 
confusion still continued. Conrad Weiser, the 
father-in-law of Muhlenberg, — a man of high 
standing and of extensive influence, — exhausted 
his skill in attempts to effect a compromise ; and 
Muhlenberg, when appealed to, in the summer of 
1746, to allay the disturbance by testifying what 
the Lutheran doctrine was, went to Lancaster 
with a heavy heart and with very feeble hopes of 
success. After this, however, the storm ceased 
to rage. Nyberg and his adherents passed along 



114 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

to the building of a new church, upon Moravian 
principles, and the Lutherans had peace.* 

Of course, the sad effects of this conflict con- 
tinued to be seen long after its violence had 
passed away. For many months they were felt 
and lamented. Gradually, however, the congre- 
gation revived. An occasional visit from the pas- 
tors in Philadelphia, whether German or Swedish, 
began to restore the church to a consciousness of 
its duty and its strength. Then the more regular 
labors of Kurtz, from Tulpehocken, one Sunday in 
every month, quickened it still more, until, with 
the arrival of Handschuh, in 1748, we discern 
rising upon it the dawn of its better days. Hand- 
schuh entered upon his duties there with his cha- 
racteristic faith and prayerful ness. His connec- 
tion with the church in Lancaster, however, was 
from the first regarded only as temporary ; and, 
after the indefatigable and successful labors of 
three years, he withdrew from Lancaster and 
took charge of the church in Germantown. 

* Halle Reports, p. 69, et seg. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 115 



CHAPTER VI. 

STATE OF THE GERMAN CHURCHES. 

About the middle of the eighteenth century, 
the Rev. Mr. Schlatter occupied a most prominent 
position and exerted a most salutary influence 
amongst the German Reformed of America. His 
intelligent zeal secured for them much material 
aid both in Holland and in England, and the suc- 
cess of his efforts seems to have been considerably 
promoted by the formidable array of his statistics. 
He represented the German Reformed in Penn- , 
sylvania as amounting to thirty thousand, consti- 
tuting forty-six congregations and forming sixteen 
pastoral districts. His appeals not only drew forth 
streams of benevolence from. Holland, from Ger- 
many, and from Switzerland, but even instigated 
the nobility and royal family of Great Britain to 
emulate the Christians of the continent in be- 
friending the Germans of America. In England, 
twenty thousand pounds sterling were placed in 
the hands of the trustees of the "Society for Pro- 
pagating the Knowledge of God among the Ger- 
mans," and the interest of it was employed in 
founding and sustaining schools under the inspec- 
tion of Mr. Schlatter. The Lutherans, having no 
such munificent patronage, found their only com- 



116 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

fort in the reflection that they needed it twice as 
much. It was a moderate estimate, allowed by 
Schlatter himself, that the Lutherans were twice 
as numerous as the Reformed ; and so, about the 
year 1750, we find sixty thousand Lutherans in the 
province of Pennsylvania. This number repre- 
sents of course the whole population of the Lu- 
theran Church, and not simply its membership. It 
was the amount of material upon which able work- 
men, had they been present in the proportion in 
which pastors were required, might have operated 
successfully, at that early day, in rearing and beau- 
tifying the walls of our Lutheran Zion. 

With these Lutherans in Pennsylvania, there 
stood in as close sympathy as the state of the 
country would allow, many brethren in the faith 
in New York, in New Jersey, in Maryland, in Vir- 
ginia, and as far south as Ebenezer in Georgia. 
As to the advantages of spiritual care, they were 
to be found in all possible varieties of condition, — 
from the regularly-organized congregation, edified 
by the ministry of a faithful pastor, to the remote 
and neglected settlement, over which the heart 
might sigh as over lost sheep without a shep- 
herd. 

If, however, it is any advantage to a Church, 
upon its first introduction to any territory, to have 
a wide door and effectual opened to it, to find 
ready access to many families, to meet with a large 
portion of the population already inclined by habit 
and by education to accept its ministry and to 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 117 

worship at its altars, that advantage was largely 
enjoyed by the Lutheran Church. 

At this time there were in all the colonies, 
Nova Scotia excepted, about forty organized con- 
gregations and sixteen regular pastors. Twenty- 
three of these congregations were in connection 
with the Synod of Pennsylvania, — the others being 
too remote to be able to co-operate directly with 
it.* The lack of regular instruction of faithful 
pastors of course retarded the introduction and 
administration of Christian discipline. Upon the 
adoption of such a discipline by the church in 
Philadelphia, however, we learn that it had been 
for years the subject of anxious thought and of 
fervent prayer on the part both of the ministers 
and the people. -f In the absence of any com- 
plete system, the pastors were careful to supply the 
deficiency by a scrupulous application of Christian 
principles upon all occasions of sacramental com- 
munion. Their mode of proceeding is important 
and interesting enough to justify us in illustrating 
it by the exhibition of one or two examples. 

In the month of November, 1746, Muhlenberg 
administered the Lord's Supper to the congrega- 
tion at Tulpehocken. In his report of the pro- 
ceeding he remarks, "It is indeed a serious under- 
taking to celebrate the Holy Supper in a church 
the members of which are not under our special 
care, and the spiritual condition of whom we have 

* Hazelius's History, p. 77. f Halle Reports, p. 831 



118 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

no direct means to ascertain. Yet, under existing 
circumstances, we have to do it. So we examine 
the communicants with great rigor, we press home 
upon them both law and gospel, we preach repent- 
ance, faith, and the fruits of righteousness, we 
point out to them the benefits that faith may ex- 
pect to find in the sacraments, and, with the help 
of God, seek to keep our conscience clear. We 
dig about the old trees ; we plant and water, and 
pray God to send the increase. At the meeting 
preparatory to the communion in Tulpehocken, I 
had a text on the subject of repentance, according 
to which the hearers were exhorted to examine 
their own selves. After this I recorded the names 
of those who wished to commune. I then pub- 
lished all the names, and inquired of the elders 
and deacons, upon their conscience, whether they 
knew any perverse and wilful offenders amongst 
these communicants. They wept, and replied 
that this responsibility was too heavy for them : 
they had enough to do to judge their own hearts; 
every one should answer for himself. I was satis- 
fied with this reply, and added that each one should 
the more faithfully examine himself in the sight 
of God. I had been previously informed that two 
persons, whose names I recorded, had been ad- 
dicted to intemperance. I called first upon one of 
them, to state before the congregation how it was 
at this time. Deep agitation prevented a direct 
answer from the individual, but certain members 
of the family replied that a reformation had been 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 119 

in progress for some considerable time already, 
and that, by the grace of God, they hoped for a 
complete recovery. The other one, whom I had 
myself seen under the influence of strong drink, 
was then called up and exhorted to repent. He 
replied that he had already refrained from intem- 
perate drinking for the space of six months. I 
then told him that such an offence was an evi- 
dence that his heart was yet unconverted, and 
pointed out to him how he might, through grace, 
obtain the forgiveness of all his sins, and adop- 
tion into the family of God. This, however, en- 
raged him, and, replying in offensive terms, he 
went off. I then exhorted the congregation with 
much warmth, telling them that they should by 
no means think that a freedom from gross sin con- 
stituted a worthy communicant ; because a heart 
truly penitent, and hungering and thirsting after 
righteousness, was here the one thing needful. I 
taught them, too, how such a heart should be ob- 
tained. After this examination, we confessed 
our sins upon bended knees, implored pardon 
through Jesus Christ, and pledged ourselves to 
follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then I 
announced to them the assurance of the divine 
forgiveness. On the Lord's day I preached 
upon the proper use and the benefits of the 
Holy Supper, and administered the communion to 
two hundred members. There was the best of 
order, profound reverence and deep feeling, in 



120 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

all the congregation. The Lord knoweth the 
heart."* 

In connection with a report of the congrega- 
tions of Providence and New Hanover, the dis- 
ciplinary operations of the Church are recorded as 
follows : — 

"During the week preceding the communion, 
every one who wishes to partake of it is expected 
to visit the pastor, either in the parsonage or in 
the school-house. The pastor then speaks with 
him faithfully and tenderly about the state of his 
heart and the character of his life; he inquires 
about his growth in grace, and gives him the ne- 
cessary admonition, instruction, and consolation 
according to circumstances. By these personal 
conferences the pastor learns the spiritual condi- 
tion of the souls committed to his charge. 

" On the day before the communion, those whose 
names have been recorded attend the preparatory 
exercises in the church. After the conclusion of 
the sermon, they all come forward and stand 
around the altar; and if there be any amongst 
them who have been guilty of gross offences, these 
are then personally called to account. The pastor 
reminds them of the evil they have clone, and 
questions them about their repentance, their faith, 
and their promise of reformation. If their answers 
have been satisfactory, the pastor then asks the 
other communicants if they will forgive their of- 



* Halle Reports, p. 176. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 121 

fending brethren and unite with him in imploring 
God's forgiveness for Christ's sake. Often have 
these questions been asked, and as often have the 
brethren testified by tears their willingness to for- 
give the wanderers and to remember them in prayer. 
.Hereupon the pastor addresses a short exhortation 
to all, reminding them that it is through the grace 
of God in Christ alone that they can be delivered 
from sin. Then all kneel together before God, 
and the pastor prays in the midst of them. A few 
more questions follow, and the pastor repeats the 
promise of pardon to them that believe. In con- 
clusion, they are asked if any one has yet any 
cause of complaint against another. If this hap- 
pens to be the case, they then retire to the parson- 
age, confer with each other, and are reconciled."* 
This was administering Christian discipline with 
a strong hand. It was taking the oversight of the 
flock in the spirit of the divine word ; and we may 
add, too, in the spirit of our own Confession. The 
pastors, as they scrutinized the several congrega- 
tions throughout the land, saw that they verified 
the comparison of a net having fishes of all kinds, 
both bad and good ; or of a field in which wheat 
and tares grow together. They could not rashly 
fall upon the field to gather up the tares, lest they 
might root up the wheat also. They could not 
allow the tares to grow wholly undisturbed, 
lest the precious seed might be choked and be- 



Halle Reports, p. 183. 
11 



122 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

come altogether unfruitful. So, like faithful labor- 
ers, they endeavored to make full proof of their 
ministry ; and, as workers together with God, they 
administered the word and the sacraments in his 
name, hoping and believing that the Lord would 
prosper the work of their hands. 

In doctrine they aimed to show uncorruptness, 
gravity, sincerity. In public and in private they 
insisted upon it, that out of the heart proceedeth 
every thing that denleth the man, and that no- 
thing would avail in Christ Jesus but a new crea- 
ture. The vai-iety of means they employed with 
a view of converting souls and confirming the 
faith of the disciples was everyway worthy of 
admiration. By the simplicity of their preaching 
the pastors accommodated themselves to the ca- 
pacity of their hearers. Sometimes they would 
recapitulate their sermons with the congregation 
in the form of questions and answers. Some- 
times at the conclusion of the discourse they 
would read an appropriate hymn, and accompany 
it with suitable remarks. This they were en- 
couraged often to do by observing that it arrested 
attention, produced deep impressions, and resulted 
in winning men for Christ. No small portion of 
their time was occupied in visiting from house to 
house; and the object steadily kept in view was 
to bring the truth directly home to the hearts of 
the hearers, and to encourage them personally to 
seek salvation through repentance towards God 
and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 123 

The pastors with the Church were symbolical ; 
by no means, however, in the odious sense in 
which, alone, some of the present age are willing 
to employ that term. They were not symbolical 
in contradistinction from being Biblical. They 
were eminently Biblical, — scriptural in the high- 
est sense, but, as Lutherans, symbolical ; that is, 
they found the doctrines of the Holy Scripture — 
which they loved, which had prevailed to the re- 
newing of their own hearts, and upon which they 
relied for success in leading others to Christ — 
aptly expressed, in a confessional form, in the un- 
altered Augsburg Confession and the other Sym- 
bolical Books of the Lutheran Church. Upon 
these principles they laid the foundations of the 
Church in America; and their hope and prayer 
was that their descendants, until the latest genera- 
tion, might continue in the pure doctrines of the 
Cross, according to the word of God and our 
Symbolical Books. They were persuaded that 
the doctrines of the gospel, thus expressed, would 
not train the Church to dry orthodoxy nor in 
mere formalism ; but must be mighty through 
God in begetting a living faith and thoroughly 
renewing the hearts of the children of men. They 
endeavored to show that the Lutheran doctrine in 
no respect countenanced a life without God, but, 
by all means, insisted upon a renewing of the 
hearts and lives of those who embraced it. They 
ventured to hope that the doctrines of the Lu- 
theran Church would abound in such works of 



124 EARLY HISTORY OP THE 

faith and fruits of righteousness as would touch 
and subdue the hearts even of the Indians them- 
selves. These savages, they found, had been re- 
pelled and rendered suspicious by the inconsistent 
conduct of mere nominal Christians ; but they ex- 
pected that, by exemplifying the doctrines of the 
Lutheran Church, they would attract the atten- 
tion of the sons of the forest to Christianity, and 
prepare the way for the Lord himself to appear 
and claim them as his own.* 

In the times of which we are writing, the Lu- 
therans do not appear to have sought toleration 
or popularity upon the ground of the conformity 
of their doctrines and usages to those of any 
other denomination in the land. They were con- 
vinced that the Church was truly evangelical in 
every sense ; and upon the strength of this they 
went forward, boldly preaching its doctrines in 
the name of the Lord, whether men would hear 
or whether they would forbear. On a certain 
occasion, Muhlenberg was requested to preach a 
sermon on the death of a Lutheran whose body 
was interred in a Mennonist burying-ground. A 
very large mass of people of all denominations was 
present, and amongst them were three Mennonist 
preachers. His purpose was to address the con- 
gregation in the open air; "but the three ministers 
requested me to go into their large meeting-house, 
which, they said, had ample accommodations for 

* Halle Reports, p. 148. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 125 

all. After some hesitation, I consented. Upon 
passing through the door, the oldest of the minis- 
ters whispered cautiously in my ear, 'I hope, at 
least, you will not be making use of any strange 
ceremonies here.' To which I replied, c !No cere- 
monies will answer my purpose hut those of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church.' After the con- 
clusion of the services he excused himself, saying 
that he did not know what ceremonies we were in 
the habit of using. Then all three came to me, 
and, with tears in their eyes, thanked me because 
I had blown the trumpet of repentance, as they 
called it, so loudly in their meeting-house. After 
this I preached four times in the same place. 
These ministers were always present; and were 
pleased to state, in a most friendly way, that their 
hearts were awakened and blessed. In these 
sermons I avoid all matters of controversy, and 
speak of repentance, faith, and godliness, — sub- 
jects that are most useful for us all."* 

We may, perhaps, be allowed to take a similar 
illustration from a period several years later in 
the times of Muhlenberg. Upon the occasion of 
a protracted visit to New York, " I was called 
upon by an English merchant, a Presbyterian, 
with the earnest request that I should bring my 
whole family, and make that city the scene of my 
future labors. He, with fifteen others, his breth- 
ren, had been regularly attending my Sunday 



* Halle Reports, p. 158. 
11* 



126 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

evening services, he said, and had a prayer-meet- 
ing for mutual edification in his own house. In 
the Lutheran Church they found nourishment for 
their souls. They could hear in my sermons that 
I was a Lutheran ; but they felt that our exposi- 
tion of the law and the gospel was in the spirit of 
the Saviour, and, if I should continue to preach 
here in the English language, the prospects for 
gathering a large congregation were most en- 
couraging, for there were many of the English 
and the Dutch inhabitants whose souls were 
hungering and thirsting after righteousness."* 

The Church was symbolical, — in doctrine show- 
ing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity. Its symbol- 
ism was strict; and it is refreshing to see that 
symbolism may be taken also in a noble, glorious 
sense, — that it maybe most deeply and thoroughly 
evangelical. What examples of piety did it call 
forth and nourish amongst the young ! To what 
devotion and fervor of spirit in the service of the 
Lord did it encourage and stimulate the old ! 

Abundantly as the memoirs of pious youth 
issue from the press at the present day, our in- 
terest and our gratification would not falter upon 
turning to peruse the extended records furnished 
by the pen of Muhlenberg. He knew a boy in 
Providence, — a lovely child, — writing of whom as 
a boy of twelve years of age, he says, " The grace 
of holy baptism may easily be seen in the charac- 

* Halle Reports, p. 503. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 127 

ter of this child. His memory is richly stored 
with proof-passages of Scripture and with edifying 
hymns. He is perfectly familiar with the five 
principal parts of the catechism, and is often most 
happy in his applications of divine truth to pecu- 
liar circumstances. Not long ago, as his mother 
was walking with him in the fields, she spoke of 
the grain, which appeared to be very thin, and 
expressed her fears that the harvest might utterly 
fail. He replied, 'Dear mother, let not this 
trouble you. " Behold the fowls of the air : for 
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather 
into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth 
them. Are ye not much better than they?" Re- 
member, too, how the Lord Jesus fed the thou- 
sands who were with him in the wilderness.' So, 
in his ordinary conversation, he shows remarkable 
readiness in the perception and application of re- 
ligious truth." 

In a word, so many were the cases of youthful 
piety attracting his attention, that Muhlenberg 
hardly hesitates to speak of it as one of the pecu- 
liar characteristics of the land, that the children 
of believing parents so often show, and at such 
an early age, an enlarged personal experience of 
divine grace.* 

These features of Christian character were often 
more fully developed in persons of maturer years. 
Upon the occasions of public worship, the mem- 

* Halle Reports, p. 164. 



128 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

bers of the Church did not neglect the assembling 
of themselves together. They came from far and 
near, in the summer's heat, in the winter's cold. 
They received the word with deep attention, many 
of them even with tears. Though the pastors 
saw that some of the seed fell upon the wayside, 
or among thorns, or upon stony ground, yet they 
discovered that much of it fell upon good ground 
and was bringing forth fruit unto perfection. In 
their intercourse with families, with widows and 
orphans in their affliction, with the sick and the 
dying, they were often surprised to learn to what 
a degree persons of retiring habits and of low 
estate had profited by the simple preaching of the 
word.* 

This was all the more wonderful because of the 
many circumstances that seem to have set them- 
selves in array against the interests of the Church. 
There were false brethren who cruelly abused the 
confidence that had been extended to them, oppo- 
sing sects that were not ashamed for their own 
advantage to misrepresent the Church and her mi- 
nistry ; there were infidels w 7 ho spake loftily, and 
scoffers who set their mouths against the heavens. 
Thus exposed on the right hand and on the left, 
tried within and without, the long records she has 
left of the deep personal experience of her chil- 
dren are enough to commend to the admiration 
of future ages the early history of the Lutheran 

* Halle Reports, p. 185. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 129 

Church in America. Truth requires us to observe, 
too, that all this was at a time when as a Church 
she was distinguished by exemplary fidelity to her 
• Confession. Her pastors were firmly bound by 
the Symbolical Books to the word of God alone, 
and her people were all trained, by faithful cate- 
chetical instruction, to esteem the word and sa- 
craments above all earthly price. 

Their system of catechetical instruction should 
not be overlooked. It began with the children itt 
the family : it brought them together, as the chil- 
dren of the Church, under the care of the pastor 
upon the Lord's day; and, still more thorough and 
practical in its application, it prepared the youth 
and others of maturer years for a worthy introduc- 
tion to the communion of the Church. The ma- 
nual universally commended and in general use 
was Luther's Small Catechism. The relations of 
this volume in the times of which we are writing, 
as well as on many other occasions, show that it 
possesses no ordinary character. Contending 
sects, unable alike to penetrate its depths and to 
appreciate its simplicity, assailed it with violent 
opposition and spoke of it in contemptuous terms. 
But men of God, who had been qualified, by their 
own profound experience, to estimate its worth, 
relied upon it and used it faithfully, as a most effi- 
cient instrument for enlightening the darkened 
understanding, for arousing the sleeping con- 
science, for leading the inquiring soul to God. 

Wrangel, the provost of the Swedish churches 



130 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

at a period somewhat later, translated the cate- 
chism into the English language; and the united 
Synod of Swedes and Germans approved of it, 
and strongly recommended its use in the English 
churches. About the year 1749, a German edi- 
tion was published by Benjamin Franklin ; and, 
large as it was, it was rapidly disposed of. When 
the duties of the pastors upon the Lord's day per- 
mitted it, they occupied the afternoon in the in- 
struction of the children. Then the churches 
were nearly as well filled as for the morning ser- 
vice. The young men, the young women, the 
parents, as well as the children, came, many of them 
furnished with the Bible in addition to the cate- 
chism, searching out and repeating the different 
proof-passages, and with such an earnestness of 
attention, that the pastors believed that they some- 
times did more good by this exercise than by their 
ordinary preaching. Whilst they required the 
catechism to be committed to memory, they were 
careful not to overburden the memory, aiming 
mainly at a clear exhibition of the truth to the 
understanding and a direct application of it to the 
heart.* 

Under the impression that in union there was 
strength, and that the interests of the whole Church 
might be best promoted by a harmonious co-opera- 
tion of all its parts, they organized a General Synod 
in the year 1748, in the city of Philadelphia. 

* Halle Reports, pp. 305, 857. 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 131 

There were present, at this meeting, Sandin, pro- 
vost of the Swedes, and Naesmann, also of the 
Swedish Church ; Muhlenberg and Brunnholtz, of 
Philadelphia, Handschuh, of Lancaster, and Kurtz, 
of Tulpehocken. There were also lay delegates 
from the congregations in Philadelphia, German- 
town, Providence, New Hanover, Upper Milford, 
and Saccum. The town of York, in Pennsyl- 
vania, was at that time so far distant from Philadel- 
phia, that a journey thither was felt to be a very 
serious undertaking; and, accordingly, Schaum, 
who was then laboring in York, was not able to 
attend the meeting. The transactions at this Con- 
vention were only preparatory, and had reference 
mainly to the external organization of the body. 
The Synod thus organized has, from that day to 
this, richly shared in the divine blessing. Though 
subject to the changes incidental to all human 
affairs, it still continues until this day known and 
deservedly respected throughout the Church as the 
German Lutheran Synod of Pennsylvania and 
adjacent States. In two of its features is it espe- 
cially true to its early origin : one is the predomi- 
nance of the German element; the other is its 
noble maintenance of the doctrinal position of the 
godly men who organized it. The distinction is 
very great between the German character as met 
with at present in our German churches, and that 
supposed refinement or improvement of the Ger- 
man character that is developed in churches al- 
ready Americanized. The former is marked by a 



132 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

piety at once deep and unobtrusive, a faith that is 
earnest and fearless, yet modest and retiring. The 
latter, in the development of its spirituality, seeks 
rather to extend itself, to attract the attention of 
the world, to acquire power and to wield influence 
amongst men: in a word, it diligently consults, 
and faithfully obeys, that law of progress of their 
subjection to which, in political and civil affairs, 
the inhabitants of this land are wont to make their 
boast. The Synod of Pennsylvania, when viewed 
in the light of this progressive spirit, might ap- 
pear to be wanting in that devotion to the interests 
of the Church which its numerical strength and its 
abundant resources would seem to require. But 
as the representative of the German Church, as an 
agent of the German spirit in deep love for the 
pure unadulterated doctrines of the word, and in 
uniform, judicious, persevering efforts for the pro- 
motion of the kingdom of God at home and abroad, 
its position is as prominent and as honorable in 
the Lutheran Church of America, at this day, as is 
that of any other Synod within her borders. 

The reputation of the Church at that day, 
amongst the intelligent Christians of the land, 
was at once lofty and extended. Her ministry 
was distinguished for learning and piety, whilst 
the earnest zeal, the gentle virtues of her mem- 
bership commanded general respect. 

So, with the abundance of her materials, her 
evangelical discipline, her fidelity to the pure un- 
adulterated doctrines of the word, her efforts to 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 133 

combine her various forces, and her general good 
repute, the Lutheran Church was surrounded at 
this early day by circumstances that seem to have 
held out the prospect of eminent distinction and 
of extensive usefulness among the churches and 
the general population of the land. 

Her subsequent history has not corresponded 
with these early indications. Encouraging as her 
circumstances are at present, yet whoever studies 
her history during the interval will have reason to 
lament her disasters more frequently than to glory 
in her triumphs ; and many a time when he would 
fain boast of her progress, he will be able only to 
deplore the hinderances that arrested her onward 
march. 

To examine this latter history, however, is not 
our purpose at present. Still, restricting our in- 
quiries to her earlier days, we shall consider the 
circumstances that seem to have darkened the fair 
hopes begotten in the brightness of her early dawn. 

It might have been no small advantage to the 
Church if a reasonable proportion of this w T orld's 
goods had been subject to the control of her piety. 
The number of her ministry, and the amount of 
accommodations for public worship and for schools, 
would have been more likely to keep pace with 
her increasing wants. Her youth, however, was 
sadly straitened and cramped by the burden of 
poverty. Large masses of the Germans, upon 
their arrival in this country, were in such a state 
of absolute destitution that the first years of their 

12 



134 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

abode in America had to be spent in actual servi- 
tude for the purpose of defraying the expenses of 
their voyage across the ocean. 

A system of outrageous imposition and decep- 
tion practised upon the Germans of the Palatinate 
and of Wurtemberg, for many years, by selfish and 
designing men, whilst it increased the quantity of 
the material of the Church, failed to produce a 
corresponding effect upon its quality. To these 
impositions the attention of Muhlenberg was often 
directed, and he has not neglected to give us a 
graphic description of them. 

In the fall of the year 1749 there arrived in Phi- 
ladelphia twenty-five ship-loads of Germans, com- 
prising altogether seven thousand and forty-nine 
souls. Many of the people thus arriving from 
time to time were objects worthy of the deepest 
commiseration. They had become the prey of the 
Neulaender ; and nothing but a weary servitude 
now could release them from their snares. 

These Neulaender, as the Germans called them, 
(we presume, because they preached up emigration 
to the New Land or New World, as a panacea for all 
the ills under which the Germans groaned,) these 
Neulaender drove a thriving business in lading the 
ships of Holland merchants with German emi- 
grants and transporting their live freight to the 
shores of the Delaware. The merchants of Hol- 
land, thus deeply interested in the increase of emi- 
gration, had contracts with the Neulaender, en- 
gaging to give them a free passage for themselves 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 135 

and their wares, together with a certain percentage 
for every emigrant whom they might entice on 
board their ships. 

Accordingly the Neulaender overran Germany, 
determined to make the best of it. So successful 
were they, even at an early day, that when, in 1749, 
Muhlenberg saw how the thousands of poor re- 
demptioners came pouring in, even with all his 
zeal for the Church and his hearty love for all her 
members, he seems to have deplored and depre- 
cated these large additions, because they would be 
calculated by their very dependence and helpless- 
ness to divide the attentions of the pastors, already 
overburdened with labors, and to cramp the ener- 
gies of congregations already established.* 

The Neulaender were men by no means destitute 
of talents. Their talents, such as they were, were 
strongly marked ; but they were of that descrip- 
tion that is always more or less fitted for mischief. 
They were artful, cunning, loquacious, and voluble. 
In their manners they affected the gentleman of 
rank, in their attire and adornments the man of 
wealth ; and so they sought by the very exhibition 
of their persons to prepossess the poor Germans 
in favor of a land of which they showed themselves 
as representatives. All this they promptly fol- 
lowed up with sympathizing and"pathetic allusions 
to the burdens, the poverty, the social degradation, 
the taxes, under which the Germans groaned, and 

* Halle Reports, p. 125. 



136 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

with eloquent descriptions of the immense advan- 
tages which the " New Land" held out to them. 
There were the true Elysian Fields ; there the grain 
was sown and the harvests were gathered without 
the application of human labor. There silver and 
gold were dug out of the hills, and all the streams 
flowed with milk and honey. Whoever had been 
a servant in Germany would in that new land 
be advanced to the dignity of a master, whilst the 
maid-servant should find herself surrounded by 
all the ease and adorned with all the graces of a 
lady. The ploughman might confidently expect 
to be a nobleman, and the mechanic a baron. 

Whether the Germans literally believed all this, 
or not, is a matter of comparatively little conse- 
quence. It was natural that poor men and de- 
pendent families, anxious to improve their condi- 
tion, should, even after making certain allowances 
for exaggeration, have sufficient confidence in the 
representations of these deceivers to induce them 
to try their fortunes in the New World. Accord- 
ingly, they dispose of all they have, sail down the 
Rhine, gather together in anxious crowds in the 
ports of Holland, and make arrangements for their 
voyage to Philadelphia. Their scanty funds sadly 
reduced by the expenses of delay before setting 
sail, they are prevailed upon by the deceitful Neu- 
. laender to sign a certain contract in the English 
language, the purport of which they do not under- 
stand. Arriving in the New World, they discover 
to their utter dismay, when the contract is pro- 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 137 

duced, that they have bound themselves to submit 
to the disposal of the captain of the vessel, to be 
sold into servitude for the purpose of defraying 
the expenses of their passage. The papers then 
teem with advertisements of the sale of German 
emigrants. Purchasers from town and country 
present themselves. Every man makes his own 
selection, and, taking his newly-acquired servant 
before a magistrate, holds him fast by legal forms 
for long and weary years of bondage. 

Many, very many Germans began the develop- 
ment of their American history in this depressed 
condition. All of them, as being Germans, but 
especially those that were Lutherans, were the oc- 
casion of much anxious solicitude to the few and 
already overburdened pastors of the Church. They 
could not be neglected: the labor of hunting them 
up and visiting them, scattered as they were 
through town and country, was so much deducted 
from the attentions required by the organized 
churches, or by flourishing settlements where large 
congregations might be organized. The spiritual 
cure of these isolated redemptioners might have 
a rich reward in the personal edification of many 
of them, comforting them during the tedious years 
of their servitude, and perhaps preparing some of 
them for usefulness and prominence in the Church, 
when the time of their enlargement came. But 
it could not be expected to tell favorably upon the 
external condition of the Church at the time ; and 

12* 



138 , EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

it did not. In view, then, of the condition of these 
redemptioners, and of the temporal and spiritual 
attentions extended to them by the Church and its 
pastors, we may see how it came to pass that the 
progress of the Church was retarded by the very 
abundance of its material, and that the fruits of 
pastoral labor were not well proportioned to its 
amount. 

Large numbers of these poor German Luther- 
ans found their earliest homes amongst different 
classes of errorists, whose unhappy influence not 
unfrequently led them either into the turbulence 
of fanaticism or into utter forgetful ness of God. 
And so began, at this early day, that practical 
evil which has ever been so calamitous to the Lu- 
theran Church, — the readiness of her children to 
turn aside from the faith of the fathers, and seek 
a home in some one or other of the various com- 
munions by which they are surrounded. 

Among the colonists brought over by the New- 
laender there turned up from time to time sundry 
notorious characters, who were passed around 
among the worldly-minded and unbelieving as 
preachers of the gospel. Some, having once 
occupied the pastoral office in Germany, had 
been degraded for misconduct ; ' others, who had 
been known only as wild and reckless students, 
had been expatriated by their own lawlessness. 
Distinguished among the masses by a somewhat 
higher cultivation in their manners, if not in 
their appearance, they found no difficulty in com- 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 139 

mending themselves to the confidence of the un- 
suspecting, and especially of those unworthy Lu- 
therans who would not endure sound doctrine, 
and who withstood the faithful pastors of the 
Church in an opposition which, though not organ- 
ized, was nevertheless most annoying. 

These adventurers, purchased from shipboard 
by men who, boasting the name, were hostile to 
the spirit, of the Lutheran Church, then affected 
the style and dignity of evangelical Lutheran 
clergymen. They first served their purchasers 
and paid for their passage by preaching. _ They 
then careered through the land, haranguing the 
Germans wherever they could find a hearing. 
They talked loudly about organizing congrega- 
tions ; they traduced and attempted to unchurch 
the members and pastors of those already organ- 
ized. Their effrontery soon corrected itself: 
their own rottenness became apparent. Discord 
broke out among their friends, their personal in- 
fluence was lost, and they closed their round by 
taking their exit, to try the same unhappy game 
in some other quarter.* 

The influence of such movements upon the 
Church could not be otherwise than deleterious. 
It would not only discourage the hearts of well- 
disposed Lutherans themselves ; it might, to a 
great extent, destroy the public confidence in the 
integrity of the pastoral character, and expose the 

* Halle Reports, p. 682. 



140 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

whole Church itself to an odium which only the 
lapse of many years would be able to remove. 

The intercourse of the Germans with the other 
inhabitants of the land was confined within very 
narrow limits. Indulging a natural disposition 
to quietude and retirement, simple in their wants, 
and ever diligent in the employment of their 
time, they became reserved and distant, not to 
say clannish and selfish. Their resolute adherence 
to their own language was at once the cause and 
the effect of this. Muhlenberg, in his readiness 
to preach the gospel in English as well as in Ger- 
man, afforded a noble example, which it would 
have been well for the Church to have followed. 
In his own personal history we see an illustration 
of the good effects such a course might have had 
upon the Church at large. His fellowship with 
enlightened men of the land, and with Christians 
of other name, was at once free and frequent, 
pleasant and profitable. It not only enlarged his 
own ideas as to what the Church required, but it 
impressed the minds of others with ideas concern- 
ing the Lutheran Church altogether favorable to 
its position and its character. 

Upon this intelligent and spirited course, how- 
ever, the German Lutherans, as a whole, refused 
to follow. They spoke the German language, and 
they wanted no other. In matters of trade and 
business they could be bold enough, when neces- 
sity required, to attempt the English; but upon 
the subject of religion their thoughts were all 



LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA. 141 

German, and German only. The doctrines of 
the Cross, to obtain any notice at their hands, 
must needs be presented to them in the imposing 
attire of their own native speech. 

Under these circumstances there could exist, 
between the Lutheran Church and the other evan- 
gelical Churches of the land, only a very feeble 
sympathy. There might be sentiments of mutual 
respect ; but there could be no cordial, extensive, 
permanent co-operation. The English churches, 
wisely taking advantage of the necessities of the 
times, showed themselves servants of all men, and 
so prospered and gained the more. The Luther- 
ans, confining their ministry to the Germans alone, 
could accomplish no higher results than what 
might be produced upon one solitary class, which, 
with all its virtues, was slow in its movements, 
deficient in enterprise, shut up within itself, and, 
in addition to all, small in its minority. 

Quite as disastrous as this, if not more so, was 
the effect produced upon the children of the 
Lutherans themselves. Brought into contact, 
more or less frequently, with other classes and the 
members of other Churches, the children of the 
Lutherans rapidly acquired the English language, 
then preferred it, then sought to conform them- 
selves to the manners and customs of their more 
progressive neighbors, and, finally, did not object 
to go far beyond their fathers in sympathy with 
other Churches, whose external aspects they per- 
haps thought more attractive, and the worship of 



142 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

which was conducted in the common speech of 
the country. 

So the Lutheran Church, instead of advancing 
in members and strengthening itself by the train- 
ing of its successive generations, lost incalculably 
much by the exodus of each successive generation 
from its borders, and for many years had to fall 
back again upon the material furnished by new 
arrivals from abroad. It was always beginning 
and always behind. 

We cannot impeach the character nor the motives 
of the good men by whom this policy was resolutely 
maintained. They supposed that the spiritual in- 
terests of the Germans depended upon them, that 
the Germans could be approached only through 
the medium of their own language, that the in- 
troduction of the English tongue would open the 
way for ultimately dispossessing the Germans, and 
that those who might prefer to worship in the 
English language need themselves suffer no loss, 
for they could be accommodated elsewhere. Yet 
it was a mistaken policy. It was the occasion of 
immense loss to the Lutheran Church ; and it has 
prevented her, for many years, from producing that 
impression upon the general religious character of 
the land, the expectation of which arose so strongly 
out of the devotion and vigor of her early com- 
mencement. 









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